At the end of the second day of the Valencia GP at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Cheste, the two Ducati Team riders were only able to qualify on row 3. Andrea Iannone set seventh quickest time in Q2, while his team-mate Andrea Dovizioso was ninth. Michele Pirro, racing as a wild-card entry with the Desmosedici GP15 of the Ducati Test Team, recorded third quickest time in Q1 but he will start from row 4, moving up one position due to Rossi’s penalty.
Iannone lapped at a good pace in the morning’s FP3, and then set his best time after fitting a soft rear tyre at the end of the session. Dovizioso finished in eighth place, also moving straight into Q2, while Pirro was unable to go any higher than seventeenth.
Iannone was fifth, Dovizioso thirteenth and Pirro fifteenth in the FP4 session in the afternoon, and then Q1 got underway. The test team rider was third quickest in 1’31.780, but he failed to make the cut into Q2 and had to settle for row 4.
In Q2 both Ducati men adopted a three-exit strategy and they set their best times on their third run. Iannone was seventh in 1’31.056 with Dovizioso two places behind with a time of 1’31.245.
Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team #29) – 7th (1’31.056)
“For some aspects it was a positive day, with me setting quickest time in FP3, but then we didn’t exactly do the best qualifying session of the season. In the afternoon we struggled quite a lot and I was not able to improve my lap time. We’re a bit off the pace of the quickest riders and now we have to improve something to try and do the race with the others tomorrow. For sure, we’ll make every effort to do so.”
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 9th (1’31.245)
“Unfortunately my crash in FP4 bothered me a bit and in fact I was unable to push hard in qualifying. I don’t have a great feeling with my bike and when the time came I was unable to be smooth and quick, especially in the middle of the corner, something that is essential for a good time. With a good start tomorrow we can gain some vital positions, even though we’ll probably have to fight for the whole race.”
Michele Pirro (Ducati Team #51) – 13th (1’31.780)
“I am not very happy with my result today, mainly because I didn’t ride as well as I would have liked, and I was only able to take my GP15 to the limit in the afternoon. In the end in Q1 I rode quite well but it wasn’t enough for me to go through into Q2. In any case I’m starting from row 4 and I hope to do another small step forward tomorrow in the warm-up in order to improve my pace and be able to fight with the other Ducati riders.”
