Andrea Dovizioso is set to start the GP Michelin de Aragón from row 4 after recording the tenth fastest time of 1’48.608 in Q2, while his team-mate Danilo Petrucci, who was unable to get through from Q1 – in which he was fifth with a time of 1’48.682 – will start tomorrow’s race from row 5 together with Rins and Nakagami.
This morning the FP3 session was held on a damp track surface, which partially dried out towards the end, but no rider succeeded in improving on his times from FP2 yesterday afternoon, which as a result was the session that decided the top 10 riders to go through directly into Q2.
Andrea Dovizioso (#04 Ducati Team) – 1’48.608 (10th)
“It’s really a pity because I made a mistake on my good lap: I went wide at Turn 12 and off the track. I think I could have set a time that would have put me on the second row, and that would have helped matters a lot because we have the pace to fight for the podium. Starting from behind complicates the situation a bit more, but I’m confident: tomorrow morning we’ll continue to work during the warm-up and then it will be a good start that could make all the difference.”
Danilo Petrucci (#9 Ducati Team) – 1’48.682 (15th)
“I’m still not able to ride my bike the way I want. I’m also trying to modify my riding style but I’m some way behind and am simply not fast enough: in particular I’m not able to get the best out of the new tyres, but I’m more confident about the race pace, even though starting so far behind certainly doesn’t help and I haven’t got the speed to stay at the front. In any case tomorrow I feel sure we can do a good race and, even though we can’t fight for the podium, we’ll try and bring home as many points as possible.”
The two factory Ducati riders will be back on track tomorrow, Sunday 22nd September, at 09.30 for the warm-up session in view of the 23-lap race, scheduled to start at 13.00 CET.
