After a very good Qatar Grand Prix, Dovizioso had a much less pleasant weekend in Argentina when he was hit during the race by Aleix Espargaro's Aprilia in distress.
On this first day in Texas, Andrea ranked sixth, 0.769 behind leader Marc Marquez, which was nothing exceptional. On the other hand, he finished as the first Ducati rider this Friday, which was reassuring in terms of his qualities as a rider. He railed against the numerous bumps that appeared following the F1 GP, these cars tending, due to their inertia, to “wrinkle” the asphalt of the circuits.
The Desmosedici didn't appear to be on their stomping ground in Austin, with only two making the top ten. With Dovi, Scott Redding was in fact ranked in ninth position, while Jorge Lorenzo placed eleventh, just ahead of the third GP 17 entered by the Pramac team for Danilo Petrucci.
According to Andrea Dovizioso, “This Friday was an unusual day because we found a very different track than last year. There were a lot of bumps and everything got quite complicated. It wasn't easy to find the right setup configuration because there wasn't much grip, you couldn't push very hard on the front and, in any case, we had to also consider wear tires for racing.
“Overall, although the overall impression hasn't been great, we're not bad at all in terms of pace. At the moment there is no doubt that Viñales and Marquez have a lot more pace than the others, but after them we are all together.
“This Saturday the temperature should be a little lower than Friday, and we will try to take advantage of this situation to work with the race in mind. »
Combined ranking of the first two sessions (compiled by our friends at Crash.net):
1. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 2m 04.061
2. Johann Zarco FRA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1)* 2m 04.347s +0.286
3. Maverick Vinales ESP Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) 2m 04.451s +0.390
4. Valentino Rossi ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) 2m 04.806s +0.745
5. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 2m 04.811s +0.750
6. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (Desmosedici GP17) 2m 04.830s +0.769
7. Cal Crutchlow GBR LCR Honda (RC213V) 2m 05.005s +0.944
8. Jonas Folger GER Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1)* 2m 05.033s +0.972
9. Scott Redding GBR Octo Pramac Racing (Desmosedici GP16) 2m 05.116s +1.055
10. Andrea Iannone ITA Team Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 2m 05.142s +1.081
11. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Ducati Team (Desmosedici GP17) 2m 05.282s +1.221
12. Danilo Petrucci ITA Octo Pramac Racing (Desmosedici GP17) 2m 05.284s +1.223
13. Jack Miller AUS Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V) 2m 05.463s +1.402
14. Aleix Espargaro ESP Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) 2m 05.468s +1.407
15. Hector Barbera ESP Reale Avintia Racing (Desmosedici GP16) 2m 05.584s +1.523
16. Alvaro Bautista ESP Pull&Bear Aspar Team (Desmosedici GP16) 2m 05.602s +1.541
17. Tito Rabat ESP Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V) 2m 05.943s +1.882
18. Alex Rins ESP Team Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR)* 2m 06.155s +2.094
19. Loris Baz FRA Reale Avintia Racing (Desmosedici GP15) 2m 06.358s +2.297
20. Pol Espargaro ESP Red Bull KTM Factory Racing (RC16) 2m 06.503s +2.442
21. Karel Abraham CZE Pull&Bear Aspar Team (Desmosedici GP15) 2m 06.709s +2.648
22. Sam Lowes GBR Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP)* 2m 06.741s +2.680
23. Bradley Smith GBR Red Bull KTM Factory Racing (RC16) 2m 07.434s +3.373
Photos © Ducati
