The Ducati Team riders had a brilliant day in difficult conditions at Silverstone today, with Jorge Lorenzo setting pole position in Q2 ahead of team-mate Andrea Dovizioso in second place. With the track still wet in some sectors, Lorenzo powered to pole with a time of 2’10.155, just a fraction ahead of Dovizioso on 2’10.314. This means that the two factory Ducati men will start from the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s British GP, which has now been moved to a new time of 11.30 BST (12.30 CET) to avoid the risk of torrential rain expected in the early afternoon.
Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team #99) – 1st (2’10.155)
“I’m very happy with my second pole position of the season. The track conditions were really difficult and it was easy to make mistakes, but there was still enough water on the track to make us use rain tyres and my strategy worked well. I pushed hard right from the start to see where the limit was and then I warmed up the tyres bit by bit before attacking on the final lap. Despite making a couple of errors under braking, I did a very good final split and it was enough for the best time. In addition to the pole, Andrea is also in second place and I’m very pleased for the team because this is a fantastic result. As for the race itself, if it’s really wet tomorrow, I believe we will be competitive. I’m feeling pretty good on my bike, even though I’m worried about the track conditions at Turn 7 should it rain a lot. In any case we have to wait and prepare for a race that will surely be very tough.”
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 2nd (2’10.314)
“All things considered, today went very well because in these conditions it was easy to make errors: three-quarters of the track was completely dry and managing to do a good time with the rain tyres was really difficult, but we succeeded. It was vital to start from the front row because tomorrow it’ll probably rain; as we haven’t really lapped in the wet we don’t know what to expect and so starting from the front is for sure an advantage. We’ve been competitive and fast this weekend, and in the dry we are in good shape, then tomorrow if it rains we’ll find new conditions, but it’s the same for everyone and we’ll try and adapt to the situation in the best way.”
