The Mission Winnow Ducati team took it back to the track today at Jerez (Spain), home of the fourth round of the 2019 MotoGP World Championship, for the second day of practice ahead of tomorrow’s race. With milder temperatures compared with yesterday – about 20 degrees in the air and 30 degrees on the tarmac – Andrea Dovizioso and Danilo Petrucci gained direct access to the second and decisive qualifying session during FP3 in the morning and continued to work on race pace with positive feedback in FP4, then finally focused on a single, flying lap with a soft rear tyre.
In a Q2 characterized by extremely narrow gaps – with the first 10 riders separated by only half a second – Dovizioso seized second row with the fourth best time in 1:37.018. Petrucci, on the other hand, encountered some more difficulties during his second and final attempt and posted the seventh-best time with a 1:37.209 after becoming the first rider to break the 1:37 wall at Jerez during FP3.
Andrea Dovizioso (#04 Mission Winnow Ducati) – 4th (1:37.018)
“I’m happy because we’ve been working really well up to this point, improving in each session. My feeling with the bike is good and even during qualifying, which is not usually my strongest suit, I managed to post a competitive time despite not doing a perfect lap. We’re ready to put up a challenge during the race tomorrow, even though Márquez still represents a question mark and weather conditions, in terms of temperatures, can play a significant role. For sure my confidence is higher than last year here. We started off on the right foot and we’ve always been among the frontrunners, but we know that the race will be a different story. Tomorrow we’ll have to stay focused to finalize the good work done up to this point.”
Danilo Petrucci (#9 Mission Winnow Ducati) – 7th (1:37.209)
“I’m satisfied with the feeling on the bike, even though starting from P7 will make our job a bit harder tomorrow. Unfortunately, during my fastest lap I felt a sudden vibration on the rear and almost crashed, so I wasn’t able to improve my lap time. Then, as I wasn’t sure whether the session was over or not, I tried to go for another flying lap but I crashed at turn 1, luckily without any issues. That said, it’ll be a long race and I’m confident we’ll be able to ride at the front. My team has been doing a great job and our pace is competitive, so I’m optimistic about our chances to score a strong result.”
The Mission Winnow Ducati team will resume action tomorrow at 09:40 for a warm-up session ahead of the race, which is scheduled to start at 14:00 local time (CET).
