Arriving in Sarthe in third position in the World Championship, 3 points behind Marc Márquez and 2 behind Álex Rins, Dovi has worked a lot since the first test session which he completed in fifth position, like his weekend so far. The leader of the Ducati team did not achieve any great success, but he was always present and rather well placed during each session. This is how we found him second in FP2 then fourth in FP3, which ranked him fourth in free practice combined, 0.335 behind his teammate Danilo Petrucci. This fourth place suited him perfectly, he repeated it during Q2, which will allow him to start from the second row of the starting grid, just behind Marc Marquez, and next to Valentino Rossi.
|
Le Mans MotoGP™ |
2018 |
2019 |
| FP1 | 1'32.476 Marc Márquez | 1'31.986 Fabio Quartararo |
| FP2 | 1'31.936 Andrea Dovizioso | 1'31.428 Maverick Viñales |
| FP3 | 1'31.619 Maverick Viñales | 1'42.498 Maverick Viñales |
| FP4 | 1'32.337 Andrea Dovizioso | 1'39.777 Marc Márquez |
| Q1 | 1'31.818 Danilo Petrucci | 1'37.667 Valentino Rossi |
| Q2 | 1'31.185 Johann Zarco | 1'40.952 Marc Márquez |
| warm up | 1'31.868 Marc Márquez | |
| Course | Marquez, Petrucci, Rossi | |
| All time lap record | 1'31.185 Zarco (2018) |
It was far from 'Desmo Dovi's' best place on the grid this year, as he started from second in Qatar, third in Argentina and fourth in Spain. Only the United States was a little more difficult with thirteenth position. In terms of his rankings at the finish, he rather regressed, but without it being dramatic: winner in Qatar, he finished third in Argentina, then fourth in Austin and Jerez. He has therefore totaled two podiums since the start of the season, just like Valentino Rossi et Alex Rins, which is one less than the three of Marc Márquez.
According to Andrea Dovizioso, “ I'm quite happy with fourth position on the grid because, given the conditions, it was easier to make mistakes than to be fast. It was really difficult to find the right feeling on the bike, especially in the second part of the session.”
“We bet on it and we were able to improve our lap time, but unfortunately the track was faster in the first minutes. We couldn't do many laps in properly wet conditions, so we still have a few question marks for tomorrow.”
“I hope to have a dry track since the morning warmup session so that I can work on some details that could make a big difference during the race. There are a lot of drivers with strong and similar pace, so anything can happen tomorrow, but we have the potential to be competitive ».
“It was very strange that we found this grip in Q2. Everyone had problems, only me and Valentino [Rossi] could improve our lap times. We were able to drive at a good speed at that time while the others were having problems. It's positive. I believe we can fight for victory in the wet.”
“Unfortunately my strategy in qualifying wasn't perfect, but I don't think anyone did it perfectly. When the conditions were good, I didn't push 100% because I wanted to take care of the front tire. It was dry and you can destroy the front tire in two laps. I actually picked up the medium rear tire to get a really good time in the end, but the conditions were just better at the start. I'm happy because it's easier to make a mistake than a perfect lap in these conditions.”
“I would really like the warmup on a dry track because we want to test something a little more relaxed. We are in the same situation as yesterday, I was not smooth enough. We also wanted to test a different configuration. It’s small things, but if your pace is good, it might be enough to really put you in a good position.”
“Regarding Sunday, there are many different conditions. It's important not to think about it too much. We need to be focused and choose the right strategy at the moment, but overall I think tomorrow we can be fast in all conditions. In the dry we want more, so I would like to do the warmup on a dry track. We didn't really ride in the rain at the end, it wasn't really wet in the morning, so we don't know what level of grip we would find in heavy rain, whether it would be very bad or normal.
“I think we can really fight here at Le Mans. Marc won last year, it's a good track for him, but for us it's a good track too – and for many other riders and bikes too. Yamaha has many riders. I think everything is still open and we have a better chance here. He can also be a little stronger and beat us tomorrow, but I’m going to fight.”
Qualification results:
| 1 | 93 | Marc MÁRQUEZ | Honda | 1'40.952 | ||
| 2 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati | 1'41.312 | 0.360 | 0.360 |
| 3 | 43 | Jack Miller | Ducati | 1'41.366 | 0.414 | 0.054 |
| 4 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1'41.552 | 0.600 | 0.186 |
| 5 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | 1'41.655 | 0.703 | 0.103 |
| 6 | 21 | Frank MORBIDELLI | Yamaha | 1'41.681 | 0.729 | 0.026 |
| 7 | 30 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | Honda | 1'42.059 | 1.107 | 0.378 |
| 8 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Honda | 1'42.067 | 1.115 | 0.008 |
| 9 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARÓ | Aprilia | 1'42.450 | 1.498 | 0.383 |
| 10 | 20 | Fabio QUARTARARO | Yamaha | 1'42.509 | 1.557 | 0.059 |
| 11 | 12 | Maverick VIÑALES | Yamaha | 1'42.555 | 1.603 | 0.046 |
| 44 | Pol ESPARGARÓ | KTM | ||||
| Q1 Results: | ||||||
| Q2 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | 1'37.667 | ||
| Q2 | 21 | Frank MORBIDELLI | Yamaha | 1'39.262 | 1.595 | 1.595 |
| 13 | 63 | Francesco Bagnaia | Ducati | 1'39.982 | 2.315 | 0.720 |
| 14 | 5 | johann zarco | KTM | 1'40.029 | 2.362 | 0.047 |
| 15 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | 1'40.114 | 2.447 | 0.085 |
| 16 | 88 | Miguel OLIVEIRA | KTM | 1'40.385 | 2.718 | 0.271 |
| 17 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | Ducati | 1'40.482 | 2.815 | 0.097 |
| 18 | 36 | Joan Mir | Suzuki | 1'40.606 | 2.939 | 0.124 |
| 19 | 42 | Alex RINS | Suzuki | 1'40.706 | 3.039 | 0.100 |
| 20 | 53 | Tito RABAT | Ducati | 1'41.351 | 3.684 | 0.645 |
| 21 | 55 | Hafiz Syahrin | KTM | 1'41.717 | 4.050 | 0.366 |
| 22 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Aprilia | 1'41.786 | 4.119 | 0.069 |
Provisional ranking of the World Championship:
Photos copyright Ducati
