Andrea Dovizioso put in one of his best performances of the season today at Silverstone. Starting from the front row after setting second-quickest time in yesterday’s qualifying session, the Ducati Team man crossed the line at the end of lap 1 in third place, and then found himself in a scrap with Rossi and Pedrosa for the rest of the 20-lap race. After being passed by both riders between laps 5 and 7, Dovi never lost ground to his two adversaries: he repassed Pedrosa for fourth on lap 13, but was then overtaken by the Spanish rider on the last lap. The Italian finished the British GP in fifth place, about nine seconds down on winner Marquez.
Crutchlow had a more difficult home race after starting from row 5. After concluding the opening lap in fourteenth place, the Coventry rider finished twelfth.
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 5th
“Today we can say that fifth place was even a bit disappointing! I fought for the podium throughout with Valentino and Dani, but I was slower than them in three or four corners: I was losing a lot of grip and I couldn’t use the strategy I wanted. Managing to stay with them right until the very end is however a really great satisfaction. We worked well all weekend and the result confirms the improvements we are making. Finishing the race less than ten seconds behind the leaders was almost a dream before the start, but instead we did it and we were always in with a fighting chance of finishing on the podium.”
Cal Crutchlow (Ducati Team #35) – 12th
“I’m pleased to finish the race, because one of our aims was to get a full race distance under our belt this weekend and I did that. Obviously I’m not happy with the end result, but we took a risk before the start and chose the hard front tyre that I didn’t do one lap on all weekend. I also made too many mistakes myself, and a twelfth-place finish in my home grand prix is not what I wanted.”
Luigi Dall’Igna (Ducati Corse General Manager)
“With Dovizioso’s second place in qualifying and fifth in the race, we are satisfied with the outcome of this weekend. To finish with a gap of less than ten seconds from the winner was one of our targets: today we did that and it’s an important result, which gives us more motivation to continue to work hard. We’re still not ready to fight for the win, but we are reducing the gap to the leaders at the end of the race. I’d like to thank the team and everyone working on this project in Ducati Corse, because they are always 100% committed: these improvements motivate us even more and help us to see that we are going in the right direction. Now it’s the turn of Misano, our second ‘home’ race, where we will again try and give some satisfaction to the Ducatisti and all of our fans.”
