The three-day MotoGP testing session at the Buriram International Circuit, where the first Thailand Grand Prix will be held on October 7th, concluded at 5 pm this afternoon.
The Italian Ducati Team rider made the most of the three days to familiarise himself with the new circuit and to try out the new components and material made available by the team.
The combined standings saw Andrea Dovizioso, who today did 58 laps and concluded his testing programme early in the afternoon, finish seventh overall with a time of 1’30.192
The MotoGP riders will be back on the track from 1st to 3rd March at Losail in Qatar, in preparation for the opening round of the season at the same circuit on 18th March.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04): 1’30.192 (7th) – 58 laps today
“These were three very useful days, in which we were able to do a lot of work and test the fairings, the frame and the other new material that Ducati brought here to Thailand. It wasn’t an easy job because it was really hot out there and this track is a bit unusual, but we gathered lots of useful information and confirmed that the GP18 is a very competitive bike. To get a better idea of the form of our rivals, we also have to see what tyre they set their times with, but in my opinion here at Buriram we are in good shape, just like in Malaysia. I’m going back home very happy and ready to leave again in a couple of weeks’ time for Qatar, where we want to prepare well for the first round of the 2018 championship.”

The second day of official MotoGP testing at the Buriram circuit in Thailand finished at 5.30 pm local time. Respecting the programme for the first two days, the last fifteen minutes of the session were dedicated exclusively to practice starts for the MotoGP riders.
Today the Italian factory Ducati rider again carried on with development work on the Desmosedici GP18 machine and preparation for the race scheduled for 7th October at this track.
Andrea Dovizioso finished the second session in ninth place with a time of 1’30.494.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04): 1’30.494 (9th) – 78 laps
“Today we did a lot of work, making comparisons both with the new fairings and with a new version of the frame, and so I’m satisfied to have had an entire day to test these new components. As always there are pros and cons, but luckily we went strongly with all the new stuff and this is really positive. We were fast without using the soft tyre, but here probably the lap times are more difficult to interpret than in Malaysia, especially because Michelin still doesn’t have much experience on this track and so it seems that the right tyres for the race will be the harder ones, quite similar to those used in the Austrian GP. It’s not so easy to interpret the level of the other riders, but also today our bike proved to be very competitive.”

Today the 2018 grid of MotoGP riders took to the track for the first time at the Chang International Circuit in Buriram for three days of testing in preparation for the inaugural Thailand Grand Prix, which is scheduled for the 7th October.
The Ducati Team rider was able to lap constantly throughout the day, testing various set-up solutions on the Desmosedici GP18 machine and he also did a few runs with a new aerodynamic package late in the afternoon.
Andrea Dovizioso was up amongst the leaders right from the early morning and he finished the day in fourth place with a best time of 1’30.945 out of a total of 60 laps.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 1’30.945 (60 laps)
“The Buriram track is very unusual and it wasn’t easy to get used to its layout. There are three corners which are virtually hairpins and then the rest is quite a pretty straightforward run. It’s quite a slow track for our bike, but it’s always interesting to try new circuits. I’m happy with the feeling with the bike, we went well right from the start and then we focussed on doing different tests, especially with the new fairings, but tomorrow we should be able to get some more detailed feedback about these new components.”