Andrea Dovizioso was sixth in this afternoon’s Q2 qualifying session at the Le Mans Bugatti circuit; thanks to his time of 1’32.726, the Italian will start the French GP, scheduled for 2 pm tomorrow at the legendary French track, from the second row of the grid.
In the morning’s FP3 session, which was held on a damp but gradually drying track, Dovizioso was unable to get into the top 10 and he had to make his way through Q1, which he finished in first place with a time of 1’32.298, thus gaining access to the successive Q2.
This morning Jorge Lorenzo could not establish a good feeling with the track conditions, and the Spanish rider also had to take part in the first qualifying run, which he finished in sixth; tomorrow Jorge will start the French GP from row 6 in sixteenth place.
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 1’32.726 (6th)
“It’s been quite a complicated weekend but in the end, after missing out on the top 10 by just a few tenths this morning, I was able to set an excellent time in Q1 and then go sixth quickest and gain a row 2 start for tomorrow’s race. I’m optimistic because I think I have a good pace, even though it’s difficult to understand that of the other top riders. We know that our rivals will be very competitive but in any case we’ll try and stay with them.”
Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team #99) – 1’32.830 (16th)
“Unfortunately the weather conditioned my practice and qualifying. With the rain I felt I was very competitive, but when I fitted slicks with the track partially damp, I wasn’t able to push hard because I didn’t feel safe enough. In Q1 there were a lot of really quick riders, and despite the fact that I set a good time, we weren’t able to get into Q2. Pity, because I feel sure that if I had had another 15 minutes available I could have dropped my lap time by three or four tenths, and I think that my real position in dry conditions is amongst the top eight riders. Now the only thing that I can do is use the warm-up tomorrow morning to improve the set-up of my bike and then try and make up positions in the race.”
