It was a Dovi in great form who dominated the first day of free practice for the inaugural Grand Prix of the 2018 season. From the first session, he was ahead of his compatriot Valentino Rossi by 1 in 55.366'0.061 and the World Champion in Marc Marquez title by 0.377.
After this excellent start, Andrea once again placed his Ducati GP18 in the lead during the second session, with an improved time of 1'54.361, which allowed him to precede the other Desmosedici 2018 model by Danilo Petrucci with a difference of 0.006. In the combined ranking of the two sessions, the two Italians were followed by alex rins and his Suzuki GSX-RR at 0.097, then by the third Ducati GP 18 of Jorge Lorenzo at 0.470.
Andrea Dovizioso thus clearly marked its territory by achieving the best time of the first day. His time of 1'54.361 was faster than the official lap record held since 2016 by Jorge Lorenzo in 1'54.927.
#MotoGP FP2 🏁
What an end to the opening day of the season 🔥@AndreaDovizioso heads the times from @Petrux9 and the impressive @Rins42 #QatarGP pic.twitter.com/POPVaC9Z52
- MotoGP @ 🏁 (@MotoGP) March 16, 2018
According to Andrea Dovizioso, quoted by Sky Sport, “ We are very good here. Which I had no doubt about. But now we are starting to work on the details.
“We found conditions a little different from the tests, because it is much warmer. We have to work on tire wear and the details that make the difference over 22 laps.
“For speed, we knew we were good here in Qatar. I am very happy with the general sensations, but we still need to work on some aspects to manage the race in the best way.”
The 2017 MotoGP world runner-up also commented on Valentino Rossi: “ Today I had the chance to follow him in the middle of the session, and I had confirmation that he was working for the race. With fairly low power depending on the race, as it should be, and as many drivers who do this are often there at the end on Sunday. »
First day ranking:
1 4 A.DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team DUCATI 1'55.366 12 1'54.361 15
2 9 D.PETRUCCI ITA Alma Pramac Racing DUCATI 1'56.076 10 1'54.367 14 0.006 0.006
3 42 A.RINS SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR SUZUKI 1'55.997 16 1'54.458 19 0.097 0.091
4 99 J.LORENZO SPA Ducati Team DUCATI 1'55.888 9 1'54.831 15 0.470 0.373
5 29 A.IANNONE ITA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR SUZUKI 1'55.816 17 1'54.841 19 0.480 0.010
6 93 M.MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1'55.743 17 1'54.850 15 0.489 0.009
7 26 D.PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1'56.265 17 1'54.851 17 0.490 0.001
8 35 C.CRUTCHLOW GBR LCR Honda CASTROL HONDA 1'55.989 9 1'54.852 15 0.491 0.001
9 46 V.ROSSI ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP YAMAHA 1'55.427 16 1'54.853 15 0.492 0.001
10 5 J.ZARCO FRA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 1'55.943 15 1'54.912 18 0.551 0.059
11 25 M.VIÑALES SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP YAMAHA 1'56.130 19 1'55.195 16 0.834 0.283
12 41 A.ESPARGARO SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini APRILIA 1'56.313 11 1'55.236 13 0.875 0.041
13 53 T.RABAT SPA Reale Avintia Racing DUCATI 1'56.111 17 1'55.308 16 0.947 0.072
14 43 J.MILLER AUS Alma Pramac Racing DUCATI 1'56.680 16 1'55.360 16 0.999 0.052
15 30 T.NAKAGAMI JPN LCR Honda IDEMITSU HONDA 1'57.183 13 1'55.694 18 1.333 0.334
16 45 S.REDDING GBR Aprilia Racing Team Gresini APRILIA 1'57.115 13 1'55.718 12 1.357 0.024
17 44 P.ESPARGARO SPA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 1'56.999 14 1'55.919 13 1.558 0.201
18 21 F.MORBIDELLI ITA EG 0,0 Marc VDS HONDA 1'57.273 13 1'55.965 15 1.604 0.046
19 12 T.LUTHI SWI EG 0,0 Marc VDS HONDA 1'57.211 14 1'56.242 12 1.881 0.277
20 38 B.SMITH GBR Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 1'57.389 18 1'56.260 16 1.899 0.018
21 17 K.ABRAHAM CZE Angel Nieto Team DUCATI 1'59.462 9 1'56.394 17 2.033 0.134
22 55 H.SYAHRIN MAL Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 1'56.544 17 1'56.454 16 2.093 0.060
23 19 A.BAUTISTA SPA Angel Nieto Team DUCATI 1'56.528 14 1'56.990 5 2.167 0.074
24 10
Photos © Ducati
