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.”