Andrea Dovizioso of the Ducati Team led the way at the end of the opening day of practice for the German GP, which is being held this weekend at the Sachsenring circuit near Chemnitz. The German track has recently been resurfaced so today’s two practice sessions were extended to 55 minutes, ten more than usual, to allow all the riders to try out the various tyre solutions made available by Michelin for this race.
The Italian rider set the quickest time of 1’21.599 on his fourth run in this morning’s FP1 session, while FP2 in the afternoon took place on a wet surface and not one rider was able to improve.
Twelfth place went to Jorge Lorenzo, who finished the morning session with a time of 1’22.209, just over six-tenths slower than his team-mate, while in the afternoon the Spanish rider ended the session in tenth, less than three-tenths off Dovizioso’s time in seventh.
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 1’21.599 (1st)
“In general today was a positive day: I’m very pleased with the way we started this morning and in the dry we confirmed the positive trend of the last few races. In the afternoon, on a wet track, we struggled a bit like the start of the session at Assen and so we still have to work a bit there. At any rate we managed to improve during the session and in the end, when I pushed hard, I was lapping just like the fastest riders but I still don’t have the feeling at the front that I had last year.”
Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team #99) – 1’22.209 (12th)
“This morning in the dry I focussed on continuing to adapt to the bike and get the best out of it, and this is my objective at this moment. The new surface offers a lot of grip, both in the wet and the dry, and this is positive. In the afternoon, in the rain, I was feeling pretty good at the start of the session but afterwards I had a small problem with the carbon brakes that didn’t get up to temperature and I lost the chance to improve my lap times at the end. Tomorrow, if it’s dry, we’ll have to try and do a good FP3 in order to gain access directly into Q2.”
