Whether on the handlebars of an improved GP17 or on the saddle of an opus approaching a GP18 still to be finalized, Andrea Dovizioso is a happy Ducati rider. The vice-world champion recognizes that his troops worked well during the winter break and is delighted with his laps at Sepang. But it takes more to excite a DesmoDovi who knows the song. He therefore keeps his feet on the ground by mobilizing the factory again and again to eradicate the weaknesses that are still present...
And that’s fortunate because the competition has also worked in the right direction. The fact remains that the basis is good, or, at least, the basics! “ For the moment I am quite satisfied with these tests. This Monday was even better than Sunday. Everything is going pretty well with the 2017 bike and I'm happy with the new one too. We made point by point comparisons today and there are definitely more positives than bad. ».
« We wanted to try new things at the end of the day but I had a serious technical problem which forced me to stay in the pits. It's a shame to have wasted time like this. Now, even in high temperatures, everything went well and I even had my best time in these conditions. We are better entering corners but we still need to work on exiting. Lap times are good with the old bike but overall I feel better on the new one ».
He finishes : " Tuesday, for the last day, we will go deeper into the details to refine the differences. I'm not involved in a Grand Prix simulation at the moment. We first need to figure out what we want to start the season with. It's much more important. It's true that things have been going well for two days, but I'm keeping my feet on the ground. Certain limits are still there and these are the ones which forced us to finish sixth or seventh on certain tracks. We must continue to work on what is wrong ».
Andrea Dovizioso finished his exercise in eighth place, giving more than two tenths to his teammate Lorenzo fourth and at the helm of a rather different machine.
MotoGP #SepangTest J.2: Chronos
1. Maverick Vinales, Yamaha, 1:59,355 min
2. Valentino Rossi, Yamaha, +0,035 sec
3. Cal Crutchlow, Honda, +0,088
4. Jorge Lorenzo, Ducati, +0,143
5. Jack Miller, Ducati, +0,154
6. Johann Zarco, Yamaha, +0,347
7. Marc Marquez, Honda, +0,375
8. Andrea Dovizioso, Ducati, +0,377
9. Danilo Petrucci, Ducati, +0,392
10. Andrea Iannone, Suzuki, +0,562
11. Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia, +0,570
12. Dani Pedrosa, Honda, +0,644
13. Alex Rins, Suzuki, +0,687
14. Pol Espargaro, KTM, +0,907
15. Tito Rabat, Ducati, +1,151
16. Bradley Smith, KTM, +1,165
17. Franco Morbidelli, Honda, +1,307
18. Mika Kallio, KTM, +1,346
19. Álvaro Bautista, Ducati, +1,373
20. Karel Abraham, Ducati, +1,559
21. Takaaki Nakagami, Honda, +1,597
22. Sylvain Guintoli, Suzuki, +2,037
23. Scott Redding, Aprilia, +2,101
24. Yonny Hernandez, Yamaha, +2,199
25. Xavier Simeon, Ducati, +2,334
26. Tom Lüthi, Honda, +2,455
