Both Ducati Team riders got their Indianapolis Grand Prix weekend off to a positive start at the iconic Speedway circuit in the USA. After Friday’s first two free practice sessions, Andrea Dovizioso ended the day in third place, with his teammate Andrea Iannone right behind in fourth.
The MotoGP riders went out in the morning for their first free practice run in perfect sunny weather conditions and at the end of the 45 minute session Dovizioso was third quickest with Iannone in sixth.
Both riders improved in FP2 in the afternoon after fitting a soft rear tyre towards the end of the session to set their quickest times of the day. Dovizioso recorded a 1m33.155s lap, while Iannone was a fraction off his teammate’s pace in 1m33.166s.
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 1’33.155 (3rd)
“I am quite pleased with the feeling today with my Desmosedici GP15. The base setting is good, but we still have a few limits and above all an annoying vibration at the front. There are various points of the track where I am unable to push as hard as I would like and on my fastest lap I also risked crashing by almost losing the front. We will have to work hard to improve our pace, especially because the top two are still some way ahead.”
Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team #29) – 1’33.166 (4th)
“All things considered today didn’t go bad at all, however I am not entirely satisfied because I feel we still have to work on various aspects if we want to have the right pace to be competitive throughout the weekend. For sure we are in a better position than in the last three races, and this is positive: in the afternoon we succeeded in improving our lap time a lot, but we still have to find a way to give me a better feeling with the bike.”
