After a winter break of more than two months, Andrea Dovizioso took to the track today together with all the other MotoGP World Championship protagonists, for the first pre-season IRTA tests. During this test he had available a 2015-spec Desmosedici and the new Desmosedici GP machine.
The Ducati rider focussed mainly on set-up work for the new electronic in the morning, consistently lapping at a good pace and gathering useful information for the new bike. After the break, Andreas stepped onto the Desmosedici GP, still with its black fairings, for the first time at around 4.30 pm, but after one hour a heavy downpour put an end to the day’s proceedings.
Even though he only completed a few laps with the 2016 bike, his impression was positive.
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 2’02.650 (13th), 40 laps
“I am happy with the good feeling I managed to find right away with the new Desmosedici GP. There are some positive aspects which I picked up on immediately: good handling, better precision in both changes of direction and corner turn-in, and other improvements in the bike’s overall behaviour. Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to push it to the limit and set better times, due to the amount of things we had to test today and the conditions towards the end of the session as it began to rain and we couldn’t use the Michelin performance tyres. The important thing was to establish a good feeling with the new bike, and now we have two more days to work and take the Desmosedici GP to the limit.”