The MotoGP World championship debut of Andrea Dovizioso and the new Desmosedici GP was certainly positive, with the achievement of an important second place in Qatar.
In the two editions of the Argentina GP held at Termas, the best result for Dovizioso came last year, when he secured a podium place with a great ride to second.
The Termas de Río Hondo weekend gets underway on Friday morning with the first free practice session at 9.55 am (14.55 CET), while the 25-lap race is scheduled for Sunday at 4 pm local time (21.00 CET).

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 2nd (20 points)
“The Termas track is completely different to Losail, but judging by our current performance I think that now we have a good base for the next few races. This year it’s always a bit of an unknown factor to go to a track where we have never tested with the Michelins, but after Qatar I am aware that the Desmoedici GP has already reached an excellent competitive level and so I am sure that we can also fight for the top positions at Termas.”

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Andrea Dovizioso was on superb form in the opening round of the 2016 MotoGP World Championship – the Grand Prix of Qatar – which was held this evening at the Losail International Circuit on the outskirts of Doha.
Dovizioso rode a fast and aggressive race and remained in the top three positions throughout the 22 laps. The Italian got a great start from the second row to finish the opening lap in third place, and he then moved into second on the next lap. On lap 6 Andrea took the lead but after three laps he was passed by Lorenzo, who went on to win the first round of the 2016 season. In the last few laps Dovi came under pressure from Marquez but he managed to hold off the Spanish rider and defend his second place till the chequered flag.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team # 04) – 2nd
“Starting off the season like this is a dream! I am really happy and above all I want to thank my team because together we have done a fantastic job to become so competitive. Thanks to all of Ducati and the guys in my team: every so often I make them suffer, but I’m always there when it counts! I finished last season without having a good feeling with my bike and so to do the first race at this pace, with all the regulation changes, means that we have really done a great job. We are only at the start and maybe this won’t be the real situation throughout the season, but we have an excellent base that makes us confident for the upcoming races.”

The Ducati Team man will start tomorrow’s opening round of the 2016 MotoGP World Championship – the Grand Prix of Qatar at the Losail International Circuit – from the second row of the grid.
Dovizioso was third quickest in the thirty-minute pre-qualifying FP4 session, and finished the Q2 session in sixth place, with a time of 1’54.963 he set on his fourth lap.
Tomorrow’s MotoGP schedule sees the warm-up scheduled for 5pm local time (15.00 CET), with the race due to start at 9pm (19.00 CET).

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team # 04) – 1’54’.963 (6th)
“I am quite happy with my position, even though maybe I could have been a bit further up. However the aim was to start from one of the first two rows and this is what we have done, so I’m pretty happy about that. Unfortunately today the feeling with the bike, in particular during qualifying, was not the same as yesterday so I was unable to push as hard as I would have liked. I’m satisfied with the work we’ve done up until today: now we will have to decide which rear tyre to use in the race, but we are quick in any case and we have a good race pace, so I reckon we can be in amongst the leading group.”

Andrea Dovizioso, after finishing fifth in FP2, moved up to fourth in FP3, three-tenths of a second away from Iannone.
As a result, the Ducati Team man go through directly into Q2, which will determine the first four rows for Sunday’s race, and which will start at 9pm local time (19.00 CET) tomorrow.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team # 04) – 1’54.945 (4th)
“I am very pleased with all the work we’ve done and with the progress we have made in our performance: we made small steps but all of them have been in the right direction. We arrived at the third free practice session with a fast pace and above all with a good feeling with the Desmosedici GP, and this has always been my priority. We have always set some good lap times and in my final run I could have improved even more if I hadn’t made a little mistake in Turn 15. I am in any case satisfied because we are up there with the quickest riders and we still have a margin to improve, and with this pace now we can focus on the fine-tuning for the race.”

After three winter testing sessions in Malaysia and Australia in February and in Qatar two weeks ago, Dovi and the Ducati Team are now ready for the opening round of the 2016 MotoGP World Championship, scheduled for Sunday evening at the floodlit Losail International Circuit on the outskirts of Doha.
The Ducati Team rider will be riding the new Ducati Desmosedici GP, which was unveiled to the press in February at the Ducati Auditorium in Bologna. Andrea Dovizioso gradually improved his form and his feeling with the bike over the various test sessions, and he concluded the final test at Losail satisfied with his race pace.
The Qatar weekend, unlike the rest of the races in the calendar, will begin on Thursday evening with the first Free Practice session, while the race will be held on Sunday at 9pm local time (19.00 CET).

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04)
“It’s great to start the season here in Qatar. Losail is a circuit where the MotoGP bikes can make the most of their available horsepower, because it is a very fast track and has a wide range of corners. It’s really different at night, when the temperature is perfect for the race. We have to be optimistic because in nine days of testing we worked well to set a good pace, and made a lot of progress in improving the feeling with the new Desmosedici GP. I’m quite relaxed about the start of the season, but I know that during the race weekend we will have to be quick to adapt to the Michelin tyres. It will be important to approach the weekend and all the new aspects in the best possible way, but I am confident for the race.”

Three days of testing in preparation for the opening round of the 2016 MotoGP World Championship, scheduled here for Sunday March 20th, have drawn to a close at the Losail circuit in Qatar.
Ducati Team rider Andrea Dovizioso was able to get through a lot of work today and continue setting up his Desmosedici GP machine in preparation for the race. Today Dovizioso completed 47 laps and set a quickest time of 1’55.700 on his final exit, which took him to eighth place in the standings, 0.890s behind the leader.
In the combined three-day standings, the Ducati Team man was again classified eighth.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – today 1’55.700 (8th)
“I am very pleased because we have made excellent progress in these nine days of pre-season testing. Today we also decided to test a softer front tyre in view of the race, and this created a few set-up problems, but in the end we managed to work well and improve my feeling with the bike in the final run. Overall these three days of testing in Qatar have been very productive and we have made big steps forward that make me feel very confident for the race weekend.”

The Ducati Team rider was once again able to make the most of the time available at the Losail circuit in Qatar, continuing set-up work on his Michelin-shod Desmosedici GP machine in preparation for the start of the championship on March 20.
Andrea Dovizioso, who carried out an 18-lap long-run at an excellent pace towards the end of the session, did 46 laps to finish sixth, 0.420s behind the leader.
After tomorrow’s final day of IRTA testing in Qatar, the MotoGP riders will next meet up at the Losail circuit for round 1 in two weeks’ time.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 1’55.856 (6th)
“Today was another very productive day, and I am satisfied because we were able to do a lot of set-up work on various aspects of the bike. We made some small improvements and then we went out and did a race simulation at the same time as the start of the GP. I am very happy because I managed to keep a constant pace, and I even did my quickest lap three-quarters of the way through the long-run and this, in my opinion, means that we can go even faster. We are still not completely right however, because during the simulation I could see that we have to improve some details, but in general I am really satisfied.”

The three-day IRTA test session at the Losail International Circuit on the outskirts of Doha, the capital of Qatar, began positively for the Ducati Team rider.
At the end of Day 1, Andrea Dovizioso was in seventh place with a best lap of 1’56.388, 0.936s behind the leader.
The test session began at 4 pm, but Dovizioso exited the pits a couple of hours later, just when it was getting dark. Dovizioso went on to complete 46 laps, continuing set-up work on his Desmosedici GP machine with the tyres brought along by Michelin for this test.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 1’56.388 (7th)
“Today was once again a productive day, on a track that is very different from Sepang and Phillip Island. These tyres are a bit strange, in the sense that every time you have to get used to them and you need a bit of time because the more you lap, you quicker you get. In fact, I had a tyre that had done twenty laps when I set my quickest time on the last lap of the run, and this confirms that we are still getting used to the characteristics of the Michelins. Let’s hope that in the next two days we can manage to get through all the tests we have scheduled in order to prepare for the first race of the year in the best possible way.”