Andrea Dovizioso powered to a superb pole position for tomorrow’s Assen TT Grand Prix, which will take place tomorrow at the spectacular Dutch circuit.
The Italian set the quickest time overall of 1’45.246 on his final lap of qualifying, which was held on a wet track. Dovizioso used rain tyres in Q2.
This morning’s FP3 session was held in dry conditions and Dovizioso was quickest in 1’33.308, and went through directly into the afternoon’s Q2 session.
After the final pre-qualifying free practice run, in which Dovizioso finished twelfth, had been held in the rain, the Italian went out for Q2 and clinched his first pole of the year, the fourth in his career.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 1’45.246 (1st)
“I am very happy with the job we have done in these four sessions. This morning in the dry we were quickest, with a good pace, but this afternoon it wasn’t so much a question of pace in the wet, but more of being ready to analyze the situation, which was constantly changing. We had opted for a one-run strategy, because it didn’t look like the track was drying out, but after two laps I saw that a few dry lines were forming and, even though it was still raining a bit, I decided to stop to fit a new rear rain tyre, despite the fact that we hadn’t agreed on this with the team. On returning to the track I was also lucky to tuck in behind Rossi: I had already identified the corners where I could push like on the dry track, while in the others I just followed him. As always it’s going to be tough to fight with the leading group, but tomorrow we’ll give it a go”.

The Ducati Team rider got off to a positive start at the Assen TT weekend. Andrea Dovizioso was classified in sixth place with a time of 1’34.011.
All the MotoGP riders improved their times during the afternoon’s FP2 session, but the factory Ducati man had also already proved to be competitive during the first morning session, when he was second.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team # 04) – 1’34.011 (6th)
“I am pleased with the improvement we managed to make in the afternoon, because this morning we had a lot of chattering and by working with the team we succeeded in limiting it a lot. Now I’m much closer to the top guys for pace, but we still have to improve because I am unable to be as smooth as I would like in race mode. All things considered I am satisfied with today, even though at the end I didn’t do a good lap with the soft tyre. For sure we can be even quicker, but we will have to make another step forward tomorrow morning”.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) notched up tenth quickest time in today’s qualifying session at Montmeló, position that mean the Italian will line up on the grid for the Catalan GP, scheduled for 2 pm at the circuit on the outskirts of Barcelona, from the fourth row.
The Catalan circuit has been modified since yesterday in the final section, before the main straight, in the wake of the tragic incident involving the Spanish Moto2 rider Luis Salom. This morning the MotoGP riders went out on track for a one-hour FP3 session (instead of the usual 45 minutes), during which they had to learn the new circuit layout and earn a top 10 place that would take them directly into Q2 in the afternoon. Dovizioso, less than one-tenth of a second slower than his team-mate, classified twelfth and as a result had to take part in Q1. In this session he placed second with a time of 1’44.656, just behind the Ducati of Hector Barber (Avintia Racing).
The usual FP4 afternoon session took place before the two qualifying runs (Q1 and Q2) and Dovizioso placed sixth.
In the decisive Q2 run, the Ducati factory man was however unable to achieve the required performance and he had to settle for the fourth row of the grid for tomorrow’s 25-lap race.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 1’45.029 (10th)
“I managed to improve my times in the afternoon, during FP4, and so I am quite happy. Unfortunately however I didn’t do a good qualifying session, because I was not able to ride well because of the scarce feeling with the hard front tyre, which meant that I couldn’t push hard, and so I made a few mistakes that didn’t allow me to set a good time. It’s true that we are starting behind, and that’s a pity, but if I manage to get a good start tomorrow like at Mugello, I know I have good pace and I feel that my bike set-up is not so bad for the race. The tyre drop-off will affect everyone a bit and we will only be able to see who is the most competitive as the laps go by.”

The Ducati Team rider, Andrea Dovizioso, was classified inside the top 10 – in tenth place – at the end of the first day of free practice for this weekend’s Catalan GP at the Montmelò circuit on the outskirts of Barcelona.
Dovizioso finished his 45 minute run in the morning’s first session in thirteenth place, and then went on to improve in FP2 in the afternoon, finishing with a best time of 1’42.490.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 1’42.490 (10th)
“This afternoon we made a big improvement, and we managed to get the hard front tyre to work well, something that we were not able to do in the morning session. With the pace that we had at the end of FP2 we are not missing much to be able to stay with the frontrunners and I think I could even have done a better lap with a fresher tyre at the end of the session. Now we have to concentrate on the fine-tuning work, because there is not much grip for anyone and the difference in the race will depend on the work that we will all do tomorrow.”

With exactly one third of the 2016 MotoGP World Championship behind them, Andrea Dovizioso and the Ducati Team are all set to tackle round 7 of the season this weekend in Spain, at the Montmeló circuit on the outskirts of Barcelona. A long straight and numerous corners with good overtaking points make the Catalan circuit one of the most spectacular on the calendar and the Catalan GP always attracts a massive crowd.
Last year’s race saw Andrea Dovizioso, who started from row 2, forced to retire after crashing out on lap 6.
The Catalan GP weekend gets underway on Friday morning with the first session of free practice at 09.55 CET, while the 25-lap race is scheduled for Sunday at 14.00 CET.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 11° (34 punti)
“In my opinion the Montmelò circuit is one of the best tracks in the world and I am so happy to go there to race. It will be important to see how the Michelin tyres will be on such a difficult track. Anyway the feeling with the Desmosedici GP is very good but we still have to improve in some areas. We are constantly fast in practice but we never seem to be able to fight for the race win.”