The final back-to-back GPs of the 2021 season got underway today with the opening day of the Grande Prémio do Algarve for PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team, with MotoGP rider Andrea Dovizioso 22nd.
Experiencing Portimão aboard the Yamaha YZR-M1 for the first time in FP1, Dovi was able to use the morning session to understand the feeling of the bike. The Italian’s fastest lap of 1’41.392 saw him end FP1 19th.
Opting to focus more on gaining track knowledge in the afternoon’s FP2 session, Andrea chose not to undertake a time-attack run and ended the day 22nd. However, he was still able to improve upon his FP1 time and set a best lap time of 1’41.214.
Track action will begin tomorrow for Rossi and Dovizioso with FP3 at 9.55am local time, while the two MotoGP Qualifying sessions will begin at 2.10pm local time.
Andrea Dovizioso #04
P 22“The first day here in Portimao wasn’t easy and I didn’t feel too good today, but the track is nice – albeit a little strange. I’m still not feeling 100% with the bike and I think there are a few reasons, for example I’m not smooth enough and in some areas of the track I am not fast enough. It means that when you want to push to gain some time, you make a mistake. We will see tomorrow what the conditions are like and what we can do in FP3 and Qualifying. We have room to improve.”.