Andrea Dovizioso and Danilo Petrucci concluded the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez, home of fourth round of the 2019 MotoGP calendar, in fourth and fifth position respectively. Both Mission Winnow Ducati riders saved their best for the latter phases of the race, trying to preserve the tyres over the 25-lap distance given also the higher temperatures of the tarmac (42 degrees) compared with yesterday, and progressively cut the gap from the podium in the final laps but couldn’t completely erase it before the checkered flag.
Both opting for hard tyres on the front and rear, Dovizioso and Petrucci initially rode in fifth and sixth position, then upped the pace within 10 laps to go. Towards the end, Dovizioso tried to move past Viñales, posting his personal best time in the penultimate lap to finish only three tenths of a second off the podium, while Petrucci faced a small drop in performance and, opting to avoid unnecessary risks, closed the race in fifth, two seconds behind his teammate.
After four rounds, Dovizioso is third in the Riders standings with 67 points – only 3 behind the provisional leader – while Petrucci is fifth with 41 points; Ducati is second in the Manufacturers standings with 70 points, while the Mission Winnow Ducati team leads the Teams rankings with 108 points.
Andrea Dovizioso (#04 Mission Winnow Ducati) – 4th
“If we consider the issues we’ve always had in the past at Jerez, we can be satisfied with both our pace and the gap from the front at the end of the race. That said, it’s a pity we couldn’t step on the podium, which was our goal. The race was faster than what we expected, and I lost too much ground at the start. In the final phases, I took quite a few risks to cut the gap from Viñales, but I was still losing too much ground in the faster corners to be able to attack him under braking. We knew that on fast-flowing tracks such as this one we would have struggled a bit more. We need to improve our corner speed, we have done that to some extent already and we’re not far from our rivals, so tomorrow we’ll keep working in this direction.”
Danilo Petrucci (#9 Mission Winnow Ducati) – 5th
“Overall, I’m happy with the way we managed a race that proved to be a bit trickier than what we expected. Early on, I simply tried to stay calm and collected to preserve the tyres for the final laps, and honestly I thought the podium was within our reach, but unfortunately it wasn’t the case despite the fact that both Andrea and I gave our 100 percent until the very end. I lacked a bit of corner speed and I couldn’t be as efficient as I would have liked under braking. To finish in the top-three, this year, it’s necessary to iron out every single detail and, in my case, to start from a better position on the grid. That said, it’s been a positive weekend. We collected important points for our championship and, starting tomorrow, we’ll keep working as hard as ever to get closer to the front.”
The Mission Winnow Ducati team will resume action tomorrow at Jerez for a one-day collective test, while next round is scheduled for May 17-19 at Le Mans (France).
