MotoGP: Ducati duo satisfied with second row

The Ducati duo of Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso say they’re satisfied with tomorrow’s second row start for the British Grand Prix, showing a fair sign of just how much the pace of the Desmosedici has improved in the first half of the 2017 MotoGP season.

Coming home fifth after topping the earlier free practice four session, Lorenzo admitted that he was happy with his performance despite being at a track that he’s been a regular winner at in the past – but which hasn’t played to the strengths of the Italian machine in the past.

“Today I did a good qualifying session. I wasn’t satisfied with my first lap time but on my second run I set a time that I thought would be good enough for the front row. However, some other riders improved their times and the track record was also lowered, which shows how much the bikes and the tyres are evolving.

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“I’m happy with fifth however as well as being able to start from the front row, especially because this is not one of the most suitable circuits for our bike. My team has been working well and we managed to resolve the problem we had yesterday with the vibrations caused by bumps on the track. Now we have to improve our pace and I think that with a smoother riding style we can improve our race performance.”

And despite rain interrupting the morning’s activities and leaving racers facing a damp but drying track, Dovizioso agreed with his teammate that the day was a positive step for them. The Austrian Grand Prix winner will start tomorrow’s race from sixth – but says they’re hoping for a further step forward in tomorrow’s warm-up.

“Today was rather complicated because unfortunately this morning it rained, and we lost almost all the free practice three session, without getting through the scheduled workload. At the end of free practice four we were able to improve enough, but I’m still not entirely happy and I hope that tomorrow in the warm-up we can make another step forward.

“We have a good pace but there are a lot of very fast riders out there, so we’ll see what it’s like in the race. Howeve,r I’m satisfied with the time I set in qualifying, because starting from the first two rows was our aim and we achieved that.”

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