Dovi concludes day one at the Losail International Circuit in P14.
The Grand Prix of Qatar kicked off today in hot conditions, although the sky was cloudy during the first Free Practice session of the year in the afternoon. Yet, once the sun set over the Losail International Circuit, lap times got quicker on a cooler asphalt illuminated by the famous floodlights all around the 5.4-kilometer circuit outside of Qatar’s capital Doha. Throughout the day, both WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team riders got back in the rhythm of a race weekend and improved their lap times with nearly each exit.
Andrea is returning to a track this weekend, where he already celebrated two wins and three second places, but missed out on the two rounds at the Losail International Circuit one year ago. Therefore, he started to re-adapt step by step aboard his Yamaha YZR-M1. He lowered his lap time from session one to session two by 1.742 seconds and concluded the opening day of the season just 0.182 seconds behind the top 10.
Following the opening day of the season, the Qatar GP is set to continue tomorrow with Free Practice three at 13:15 local time (11:15 CET), followed by FP4 at 17:20 (15:20 CET) and the all-important two Qualifying sessions at 18:00 (16:00 CET) and 18:25 (16:25 CET) to determine the first starting grid of the 2022 MotoGP World Championship season.
Andrea Dovizioso #04
P 14“I’m happy because I’m closer and closer in terms of pace and also my lap time got faster and faster, meaning that I was getting closer to the top. At the same time my overall feeling was improving. It’s very nice to feel the turning of the bike, but everybody is incredibly fast. Even if you do a good lap time, it’s not even enough for the top 10. This is a bit tricky, as we know it’s impossible in FP3 tomorrow to improve the lap time again. Therefore, it’s going to be difficult, but we are ready to work on it.”