The factory Ducati Team riders powered to the top two positions on the grid in this afternoon’s qualifying session for the Aragon Grand Prix. At the end of an exciting 15-minute run, Jorge Lorenzo grabbed the pole in the final seconds with a time of 1’46.881, just a fraction ahead of his team-mate Andrea Dovizioso.
Today’s result was the sixth successive front row for the Ducati Team since the Sachsenring, the third successive pole position for Jorge Lorenzo, and also the second 1-2 in qualifying for the factory Ducati riders in 2018 after Silverstone.
Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team #99) – 1st (1’46.881)
“I waited a long time to get my first pole position with Ducati, and now I’ve scored three in a row so I’m very happy about that. It was a very strange qualifying session, with all the riders hanging around, and as I was the last to go out, I was worried about all the traffic I would find on the track. I knew that I only had one chance to do an ‘explosive’ lap, so I pushed as hard as possible and in the end, despite a few small errors, I grabbed the pole from Andrea, who has always been very quick today. It’s another Ducati 1-2 in qualifying and I’m so happy for all the team. Tomorrow the race is sure to be a totally different story, because it will be very hot and also tough physically. We will have to work out what the best strategy is going to be but I think that we have a great pace and we can fight for the win.”
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 2nd (1’46.895)
“The qualifying session went well, because the important thing was to get onto the front row, which we did. With the times so close together, it would have been so easy to find yourself on the second row in an instant! The problem is that in the second exit we found ourselves all bunched together and in these conditions it’s very difficult to find room. I managed to find a gap and I was quite quick, but I had to overtake Bautista and I lost a bit of time. In spite of this, I did a really good lap time and so I’m very happy, also because the bike is working really well and for the race we’ve got a great pace. Tomorrow I think I can fight for the win, but the tyre wear will make all the difference so we’ll have to be good at managing the situation and do the right strategy in the race.”
