The opening day of the Gran Premio di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini proved to be one with both dry and wet conditions for PETRONAS Yamaha Sepang Racing Team, with Andrea Dovizioso – in his debut for the team – ending the opening day of the SanMarinoGP 24th.
Making his return to MotoGP after nearly ten months away, Dovi spent the majority of FP1 acclimatising to his Yamaha machinery. He opted not to go out in the rain and, with a 1min 35.211secs lap, ended the session 24th.
With unpredictable weather forecast for the rest of the weekend, the Italian was able to rack up some important laps in the wet conditions of FP2, setting a best time of 1min 44.530secs. Andrea ended the session 21st but, with no improvement on his dry FP1 time, was 24th overall.
FP3 will get underway at 9.55am local time tomorrow, with the first of the two MotoGP Qualifying sessions due to start at 2.10pm local time.
Andrea Dovizioso #04
P 24“It’s been strange being on this bike today, but in a good way. I don’t yet feel completely comfortable with my riding position, but the difference in the bike compared to what I have ridden before is huge for me. It took some time to get used to it and I didn’t push this morning, but already the feeling with the bike is good. I need to push a bit more and be faster to understand the details, but we have some things we can try to improve my positions. It has been very nice today though and it feels good to be back in the championship with all the other riders”.