The two Ducati Team riders got their Misano Adriatico weekend off to a positive start today. At the end of the first day of free practice Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo were classified first and second while Michele Pirro, entered as a wild-card with the Desmosedici GP of the Ducati Test Team, finished in thirteenth place.
After concluding the morning’s FP1 session in first place, Dovizioso did exactly the same in the afternoon with a best time of 1’32.198, which he set in the final minutes of the second session.
Lorenzo, who was fourth in the morning, was then second quickest in the afternoon with a time of 1’32.358.
A provisional thirteenth place went to Michele Pirro, who was making a return to MotoGP after his nasty crash at Mugello. The rider from San Giovanni Rotondo, sixteenth in the morning, came close to a top ten place in the afternoon and ended the day eight-tenths of a second away from Dovizioso.
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 1st (1’32.198)
“I’m pleased I manage to set the quickest time in both of today’s sessions, but I didn’t have a perfect feeling with the bike during free practice. The track conditions were very different to what we encountered during the test here three weeks ago: there isn’t the same amount of grip, the tyres wear out in a different way and our set-up is not the same. However, we’re fast and we hope that the weather conditions tomorrow will allow us to work some more on the bike because we have to improve for the race.”
Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team #99) – 2nd (1’32.358)
“For the moment we’ve reached our first target, which was to be competitive right from the very first session. Because of the rain that fell yesterday, in the morning we found the asphalt had very little grip and the situation was rather complicated, but in the afternoon the conditions improved considerably and we managed to get our times down. With the new tyre we proved to be competitive and now we have to work on our pace for the race. I feel really good on the bike, we started off in the best possible way and now we only have to sort out a few details to make a further step forward.”
Michele Pirro (Ducati Test Team #51) – 13th (1’33.005)
“The most important thing for me is to be back on track again, and in the end I’m not far off the top guys. It’s a pity that my fastest lap was cancelled, because I touched the green part of the track, otherwise I could have been inside the top six. Tomorrow we’ll have to try and improve, hoping that the weather stays dry, but I’m satisfied in any case because I’m gaining more and more confidence and I’m back to a competitive level, so I’m sure I can improve even more tomorrow.”
