Andrea Dovizioso will start tomorrow’s Dutch Grand Prix at the Assen TT circuit from the second row of the grid after setting fourth quickest time in qualifying, just 79/1000ths of a second away from Marquez in pole position.
This morning the Ducati Team’s Italian rider was unable to improve on his time set yesterday and he ended up tenth overall in the combined standings, but in any case he went through into the afternoon’s all-important Q2 session.
The Dutch Grand Prix, which gets underway at 14.00 CET, will be held over a race distance of 26 laps.
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04): 4th (1’32.870)
“A gap of 79 thousandths of a second from pole position is very small, but in some cases, like this one unfortunately, it can be very big! In any case I’m very happy because starting from the first two rows of the grid here at Assen is always very important, and also because I didn’t expect to do a lap of 1m32s on this circuit. The qualifying session was a bit strange, with all the riders waiting, but luckily I was at the back of the group and I had Rossi just ahead of me. I’m happy with the feeling with my bike: this morning the wind direction changed from yesterday and we struggled a bit, but in the afternoon we managed to improve. For tomorrow we’re set up pretty good and, even though there are several riders who have a good pace, we are confident we can do a good race.”