| The Mission Winnow Ducati team concludes the first day of official MotoGP tests at Losail with Dovizioso and Petrucci in 3rd and 4th position respectively |
Two weeks after a successful debut on track at the first official MotoGP tests at Sepang (Malaysia), the Mission Winnow Ducati team resumed action at Losail (Qatar) for the second and final pre-season test. The opening session, characterized by outside temperatures around 20 degrees, allowed the team to resume its all-around development program on engine, chassis, electronics, aerodynamics and tyres to further define the base ahead of the fast approaching season opener.
Both Andrea Dovizioso and Danilo Petrucci were able to show their speed right from the start, constantly riding within the top five and posting their fastest laps at the time scheduled for the race, without using the softer tyre compound available. Dovizioso clocked 29 laps, the fastest of which in 1:55.550, finishing the session in third position. Just 44 thousandths of a second behind his teammate, Petrucci was fourth with a personal best of 1:55.594 and 37 laps to his tally.
Andrea Dovizioso (#04 Mission Winnow Ducati) – 1:55.550 (3rd)
"I'm happy with our progress on this opening day. We immediately found a good feeling with the track, which didn't have much rubber on it but was quite clean, and we managed to post competitive lap times right from the start. We're all quite close, so the rankings should not be taken into too much account, but what matters is that the feeling with the bike is good. We ticked all the boxes in our program, trying a couple of new solutions and giving a clear feedback to our engineers. Tomorrow we'll evaluate different things, but in the meantime we can be happy with the work done today."
Danilo Petrucci (#9 Mission Winnow Ducati) – 1:55.594 (4th)
"For sure we faced different conditions compared with the ones we had found in Malaysia. Here the humidity peaked after sundown, so we decided not to put on a new tyre for our last stints out on track. We focused on the medium compound, with which we found good pace. The track is still not in perfect conditions, but I felt comfortable riding the bike. We tried a few setup changes and we managed to be fast both with new and used tyres. I'm happy, we need to keep working in this direction and tomorrow we'll try the soft tyre to improve also in terms of pure performance."
The Mission Winnow Ducati team will resume action tomorrow for the second of three days of official tests. |
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