MotoGP Great Britain Silverstone J1: Andrea Dovizioso sixth and in difficulty

After his magnificent victory in Austria, Andrea Dovizioso arrived at Silverstone with a smile. Second in the provisional World Championship standings, 58 points behind Marc Márquez, he knows that it will be difficult for him to catch up with his brilliant Iberian opponent to try to take the title from him this year, but this first day at Silverstone seems to have made the task a little more complicated because the Desmosedici was not really part of the group of leaders.

However, Ducati should not worry too much because Andrea Dovizioso had imposed his machine in 2017, with a small tenth ahead of Maverick Vinales, but 0.7 on Valentino Rossi, 1.6 over Cal Crutchlow and 3.5 ahead Jorge Lorenzo.

But since then the covering has been completely redone. It offers better grip therefore – according to Michelin – less slippage, therefore less wear, and the possibility of making a soft tire last longer. For Piero Taramasso (Michelin) a soft rear will be able to complete the 20 laps (118 km) of the race on Sunday without any problem.

Is the new coating suitable for Ducatis? This is not the impression they gave during the first free practice session, dominated by Yamaha, Honda and Suzuki. There was only one Desmosedici among the first 8, that of Dovi in sixth position, more than a second (1.053) from the best time established by fabio quartararo, which was a significant gap. Desmo Dovi then had the Yamahas of Fabio, Maverick Viñales and Franco Morbidelli in front of him, while Valentino Rossi followed him at 0.293.

The afternoon was not more impressive with the sixth time in 2'00.110, although the gap with Quartararo was reduced a little to 0.885. But there was still only one Ducati in the top 8, with Jack Miller and Danilo Petrucci following in ninth and tenth positions respectively 1.1 and 1.2 behind Fabio.

The situation is therefore delicate among the Reds, but not desperate. Restoring the situation will not be easy, however, because while Ducati will progress, we will also have to expect improvements from the Yamahas and the Hondas, at least that of Marquez and perhaps that of Cal Crutchlow (fifth ahead of Dovi, to 0.768 from Quartararo). We will also be wary of a return to form from Alex Rins and his Suzuki, who was clearly out of place in fifteenth position, 1.4 behind Fabio.

Dovizioso has no pole positions to his credit so far this year, but he has started from the front row three times. He won the Qatar and Austrian Grands Prix and is in second position in the provisional World Championship standings, 58 points behind Marc Márquez.

According to Andrea Dovizioso, “It's good to race on this new asphalt, there are a few small bumps, but it's much better than last year. For me, it's not bad, I have good feelings but there is work to do, it remains a complicated track. Being good in all areas is not easy, we need to improve some things.”

“It was hot this afternoon, tomorrow and Sunday will be even hotter, so it will be important to focus on tomorrow's testing.”

“For the settings, we can do better. Many drivers are fast. We still don’t know if we are ready for the race.”

“It's difficult to make predictions, but again it seems to be a three-way fight: Marc and Quartararo will be 100% competitive, even Maverick and Valentino will be there. With three days of dry weather, anything can still happen. It’s not easy to always do what I did the other Sunday…”

Results of the first day of free practice:

1	20	Fabio QUARTARARO	FRA	Petronas Yamaha SRT	Yamaha	317.6	1'59.225
2	93	Marc MÁRQUEZ	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	325.3	1'59.476	0.251 / 0.251
3	12	Maverick VIÑALES	SPA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	321.4	1'59.765	0.540 / 0.289
4	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	318.5	1'59.937	0.712 / 0.172
5	35	Cal Crutchlow	GBR	LCR Honda CASTROL	Honda	327.2	1'59.993	0.768 / 0.056
6	4	Andrea Dovizioso	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	327.2	2'00.110	0.885 / 0.117
7	21	Frank MORBIDELLI	ITA	Petronas Yamaha SRT	Yamaha	315.7	2'00.183	0.958 / 0.073
8	88	Miguel OLIVEIRA	POR	Red Bull KTM Tech 3	KTM	319.5	2'00.360	1.135 / 0.177
9	43	Jack Miller	AUS	Pramac Racing	Ducati	325.3	2'00.392	1.167 / 0.032
10	9	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	324.3	2'00.428	1.203 / 0.036
11	30	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	JPN	LCR Honda IDEMITSU	Honda	319.5	2'00.492	1.267 / 0.064
12	41	Aleix ESPARGARÓ	SPA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	324.3	2'00.497	1.272 / 0.005
13	44	Pol ESPARGARÓ	SPA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	323.3	2'00.591	1.366 / 0.094
14	5	johann zarco	FRA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	323.3	2'00.664	1.439 / 0.073
15	42	Alex RINS	SPA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	322.3	2'00.666	1.441 / 0.002
16	63	Francesco Bagnaia	ITA	Pramac Racing	Ducati	324.3	2'00.788	1.563 / 0.122
17	29	Andrea Iannone	ITA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	324.3	2'00.907	1.682 / 0.119
18	50	Sylvain GUINTOLI	FRA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	319.5	2'02.240	3.015 / 1.333
19	55	Hafiz Syahrin	MAL	Red Bull KTM Tech 3	KTM	317.6	2'02.417	3.192 / 0.177
20	53	Tito RABAT	SPA	Royal Avintia Racing	Ducati	323.3	2'02.473	3.248 / 0.056
21	99	Jorge Lorenzo	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	323.3	2'02.907	3.682 / 0.434
22	17	Karel ABRAHAM	CZE	Royal Avintia Racing	Ducati	316.7	2'02.993	3.768 / 0.086