Andrea Dovizioso set the fourth-quickest combined time in free practice for the TIM San Marino Grand Prix at the Misano World Circuit. Michele Pirro, running as a wild-card entry with the Ducati Test Team’s Desmosedici GP15, finished the day in ninth place, while Andrea Iannone could only manage thirteenth.
In the morning’s FP1, Pirro was surprisingly third, while the two Ducati Team riders were respectively fifth (Dovizioso) and tenth (Iannone).
The afternoon session saw all the top riders improve their times and Dovizioso, who went out on track in the last few minutes with a soft rear, clocked a time of 1’33.291 which put him fourth in the provisional timesheets.
Andrea Iannone had a harmless crash on his eleventh lap and after returning to the track with his second bike but without using a soft tyre, he failed to improve his best time and finished the day in thirteenth place.
Pirro also had a good run in the second session, and his time of 1’33.674 classified him in ninth, eight-tenths off the pace of the pacesetter, Lorenzo
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 1’33.291 (4th)
“Today was a good day, even though I didn’t have an optimal feeling with the bike. I just didn’t feel good on it, but for the moment I am unable to explain why. Maybe after doing the tests here at Misano my expectations were different and I thought I could establish a good feeling straight away. There’s nothing to be alarmed about however because in any case my performance was good. Now we have to understand if there is something strange in our settings or if it was simply due to the track conditions seeing as today the times were much higher than those we set in testing.”
Michele Pirro (Ducati Team #51) – 1’33.674 (9th)
“It was a bit of a complicated day for me, because in the morning we had some new things to try and so I couldn’t do many laps. Despite this we managed to do a good session. Unfortunately in the afternoon I was unable to take advantage of the work we did in the morning because of a technical problem on my bike, but I am optimistic because it has good potential and today I was always one of the fastest riders on the track. So tomorrow I will try and remain in the top 10 and immediately get into Q2.“
Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team #29) – 1’34.132 (13th)
“It wasn’t a positive day for me and we now have to understand what to do to improve the situation. We did some tests, trying to find something that can help us to go better, but in FP2 I crashed at Turn 10. Unfortunately as soon as I got on the gas the steering closed in on me and I was unable to stay upright. When I got back to the pits I used the second bike which had a different set-up. At that point we decided not to fit a new tyre but to use the same ones as the first bike, to try and get an idea of the wear. At the moment the main issue is grip, which is really scarce and which is making me struggle a lot, but I am sure that when the track conditions improve tomorrow we will be able to resolve them.”
