Three days of testing in preparation for the opening round of the 2016 MotoGP World Championship, scheduled here for Sunday March 20th, have drawn to a close at the Losail circuit in Qatar.
The two Ducati Team riders were able to get through a lot of work today and continue setting up their Desmosedici GP machines in preparation for the race. Today Iannone completed 46 laps, the best of which in 1’55.535, and he finished the day in sixth place, 0.725s from Lorenzo. Dovizioso, who did one more lap than his team-mate, set a quickest time of 1’55.700 on his final exit, which took him to eighth place in the standings, 0.890s behind the leader.
In the combined three-day standings, the Ducati Team men were again classified sixth and eighth, with Iannone’s best time being the 1’55.508 he set yesterday.
Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team #29) – today 1’55.535 (6th)
“In the end these have been three days of positive tests and I am satisfied. We still have to understand a few things in view of the race, but I think that we have all the right cards to improve even more. For sure the data we picked up will be analyzed carefully in the next few days and I am confident that during the race weekend we can improve our competitive level even more. Today we didn’t do a time-attack and we didn’t use a soft rear tyre to set our time, but I’m not worried about my position in the standings because we were doing a different job. Even though the long-run didn’t go the way I expected, we have prepared well for the race and I am calm and confident about the start of the season.”
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – today 1’55.700 (8th)
“I am very pleased because we have made excellent progress in these nine days of pre-season testing. Today we also decided to test a softer front tyre in view of the race, and this created a few set-up problems, but in the end we managed to work well and improve my feeling with the bike in the final run. Overall these three days of testing in Qatar have been very productive and we have made big steps forward that make me feel very confident for the race weekend.”
