Ducati Team riders, Andrea Iannone and Andrea Dovizioso, qualified in ninth and twelfth place for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, and will line up on rows 3 and 4 respectively for Sunday’s twelfth round of the 2015 MotoGP World Championship at the fast Northamptonshire circuit.
In the morning’s FP3 session, Dovizioso put in a good performance to finish third, just five-tenths of a second from the top, while Iannone could only finish his run in tenth place. Both Ducati Team riders automatically went through to Q2.
Following the afternoon’s pre-qualifying FP4, which saw Iannone place second and Dovizioso sixth, the two Italian factory team riders then took to the track for the decisive 15-minute Q2 qualifying, but they were unable to repeat the same good form as they had shown in the previous two sessions.
As a result Iannone will start the 20-lap British GP from row 3 of the starting-grid on Sunday with ninth-quickest time, while twelfth-placed Dovizioso will start from row 4.
Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team #29) – 2’01.874 (9th)
“My qualifying wasn’t very good in general, but on my best lap I made a mistake in the T2 sector at the entry to the chicane, where I lost the front and so I could only improve just a little. It was a pity because for sure we could have lapped even better than that, but when you push hard and you are close to the limit this can always happen. This morning I struggled a bit, but then in FP4 we made an important change to the setting that helped me and I was immediately quicker, setting some good times which I hope to repeat tomorrow in the race.”
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 2’01.979 (12th)
“Up until to this morning we had done a good job, improving the bike in each session until we found a good race pace. In FP4 we had planned to do a back-to-back between two rear shocks but as soon as I set off I had a problem with the clutch and had to stop. On a long circuit like Silverstone, if you stop in the pits you don’t get a chance to do many other laps. As a result I started qualifying without any recent reference data and this made things difficult for me. Making up some places at the start won’t be easy, especially because the startline straight is short, but in any case I will try and get myself as close to the front as possible.”
