The Ducati Team rider got off to a positive start at the Montmelò circuit on the outskirts of Barcelona, where Sunday’s Catalan Grand Prix will be taking place. At the end of the first day of practice Andrea Dovizioso was in fourth place.
Some slight rain in the morning meant that most of the first session was wasted, and it was only towards the end of FP1 that the riders were able to lap on slicks on a dry track. Andrea Dovizioso finished the session in third.
In the afternoon the conditions improved considerably with blue skies, sun and temperatures rising to 26°C. During FP2 the Italian Ducati rider made three exits from the box and set his best time towards the end of the session, when he fitted soft tyres on his 2017 Desmosedici GP machine, finishing in fourth with a lap of 1’44.883.
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 1’44.883 (4th)
“Even though we found the track in quite a bad state and with a lot of holes, the test a couple of weeks ago helped us to establish a good base and today we set some good times. I think that we have to work on consistency more than speed because the grip of the rear tyre drops very quickly and the pace that we’ll be able to keep after a few laps will be very important. In any case today we started well and tomorrow we’ll work to try and improve the feeling at the front.”