A difficult Day 1 of free practice action for the Ducati Team in the Italian GP at the Mugello circuit in Tuscany today concluded with its three riders in tenth, eleventh and thirteenth place. Big crash for Michele Pirro during FP2. The Italian, second in FP1, lost control of the bike under braking at the end of the straight and crashed badly. Pirro was thrown high off his machine and rolled over a number of times in the gravel trap. Race Direction immediately brought out the red flags and emergency vehicles were rapidly on the scene, transporting Pirro first to the circuit’s Medical Centre, where he was diagnosed with concussion and a dislocated right shoulder, which was put back into place.
At the end of the two sessions Andrea Dovizioso, third in the morning’s FP1 session, finished the day three places behind in thirteenth with a lap of 1’47.902.
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 13th (1’47.902)
“For us it was quite a complicated day, starting with this morning. We had good pace but we were unable to see out our scheduled work programme because I had a problem with the bike in FP2 and had to use the other one to finish the session. Unfortunately the rear tyre didn’t have enough grip, and as well as not being able to set a good time, we weren’t able to work the way we wanted to. Michele’s crash was truly horrific and I really hope it was nothing serious.”