MotoGP Valencia J1: Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati/9) in pursuit of the teams title

Largely assured of second place in the World Championship this year at the dawn of the last Grand Prix of the season, Andrea Dovizioso will have to try to win the team title with his teammate Danilo Petrucci, which does not look too difficult. compared to a demoralized Jorge Lorenzo, but much more complicated against Marc Márquez, reigning World Champion and in front of his Spanish audience on the Ricardo Tormo Circuit.

Honda has already won two World Championships this season, for drivers and manufacturers, and all it needs is first place in the teams to be rewarded with the prestigious “Triple Crown”. Honda has the advantage that Marc Márquez plays at home, a week after celebrating his fifth world title at home with his brother Álex in Cervera. On the other hand, Honda is not at the top of the provisional ranking, currently totaling 430 points against 432 for Ducati. And the main handicap for Team Repsol Honda will of course be this Sunday Jorge Lorenzo, who can't wait for the season to end, and his career at the same time. It's hard to imagine him being ready to risk seriously injuring his spine during the race, when his two fractured vertebrae have not yet been 100% healed. During the second half-season, Jorge could only finish fourteenth three times at best. So he will perhaps score two points on Sunday and we hope for a little more, but it is not easy.

Dovi will therefore have to accumulate big points on Sunday so that Marc Márquez does not make the difference, because the future performance of Danilo Petrucci is difficult to assess. Andrea has won two Grands Prix this year, in Qatar and Austria, then he has been on the podium three times in the last five races, finishing second in Aragón, then third in Japan and Malaysia.

Dovizioso took part in 17 Grands Prix in Valencia. He won once there, last year, on Ducati. He also finished second there on a 125 Honda in 2004 and third on a Honda MotoGP in 2011. He was part of the Repsol Honda team that year, with Casey Stoner who won at Valencia and Dani Pedrosa who finished fifth. The curiosity came from the two official Yamahas with Ben Spies who finished second and the replacement (for Jorge Lorenzo) Katsuyuki Nakasuga sixth.

According to Andrea Dovizioso, “This afternoon we experienced some setbacks that prevented us from completely finishing our workload, but in any case we managed to enter the top 10 and that is positive. »

“The first bike had a little problem with the electronics. That's why I changed bikes, where this little problem occurred. So I wasn't able to do many laps. It wasn't anything major on the bike, but I couldn't follow through with the plan we had made. »

“We ran out of time and wanted to try the soft tire, so we decided to stay with the soft tire for seven laps. This wasn't the best way to get a fast time. I had a different setup and different tires – and that unfortunately wasn't the best way to understand the setup. The tire was also a little better than the medium, which also affects the tuning. »

“I'm happy to be in the top 10, but unfortunately we couldn't use the time we had. »

“It will be difficult to win the team classification because Marc Márquez will certainly be very strong on Sunday. At the moment, Maverick Viñales and Marc have a much better pace than the other drivers. »

“There is only one reason why it is important for me to win the World Team Championship: I gave an interview before the first race and I told everyone that Danilo and I would be the strongest team in the World Championship. I think that's what happened. Unfortunately, Marc alone scored too many points... We will try to win this title. We want to be more competitive than today. »

It will also be important to make the best choice of tires because for the moment, the situation is not very clear for the race. »

Results of the first day of free practice:

1. Fabio QUARTARARO Petronas Yamaha SRT 1'30.735 (FP2)
2. Maverick VIÑALES Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 1'30.883 0.148 / 0.148 (FP2)
3. Marc MÁRQUEZ Repsol Honda Team 1'30.974 0.239 / 0.091 (FP2)
4. Jack MILLER Pramac Racing 1'31.000 0.265 / 0.026 (FP2)
5. Franco MORBIDELLI Petronas Yamaha SRT 1'31.199 0.464 / 0.199 (FP2)
6. Álex RINS Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 1'31.230 0.495 / 0.031 (FP2)
7. Joan MIR Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 1'31.280 0.545 / 0.050 (FP2)
8. Aleix ESPARGARÓ Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 1'31.305 0.570 / 0.025 (FP2)
9. Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati Team 1'31.351 0.616 / 0.046 (FP2)
10. Johann ZARCO LCR Honda IDEMITSU 1'31.369 0.634 / 0.018 (FP2)
11. Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR LCR Honda CASTROL 1'31.433 0.698 / 0.064 (FP2)
12. Danilo PETRUCCI Ducati Team 1'31.455 0.720 / 0.022 (FP2)
13. Michele PIRRO Ducati Team 1'31.765 1.030 / 0.310 (FP2)
14. Valentino ROSSI Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 1'31.775 1.040 / 0.010 (FP2)
15. Francesco BAGNAIA Pramac Racing 1'31.868 1.133 / 0.093 (FP2)
16. Jorge LORENZO Repsol Honda Team 1'31.880 1.145 / 0.012 (FP2)
17. Pol ESPARGARÓ Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1'31.905 1.170 / 0.025 (FP2)
18. Tito RABAT Reale Avintia Racing 1'32.159 1.424 / 0.254 (FP2)
19. Karel ABRAHAM Reale Avintia Racing 1'32.278 1.543 / 0.119 (FP2)
20. Mika KALLIO Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1'32.467 1.732 / 0.189 (FP2)
21. Andrea IANNONE Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 1'32.568 1.833 / 0.101 (FP2)
22. Hafizh SYAHRIN Red Bull KTM Tech 3 1'32.887 2.152 / 0.319 (FP2)
23. Iker LECUONA Red Bull KTM Tech 3 1'33.114 2.379 / 0.227 (FP2)

Reference times:

Test record: 1'29.401 by Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) in 2016

Lap record: 1'31.171 by Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) in 2016

Best top speed: 335,9 km/h for Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) in 2015

Provisional ranking of the World Championship:

1 Marc MÁRQUEZ–Honda 395 points

2 Andrea DOVIZIOSO–Ducati 256

3 Maverick VIÑALES–Yamaha 201

4 Alex RINS–Suzuki 194

5 Danilo PETRUCCI–Ducati 176

6 Fabio QUARTARARO–Yamaha 172

7 Valentino ROSSI–Yamaha 166

8 Jack MILLER–Ducati 149

9 Cal CRUTCHLOW–Honda 133

10 Franco MORBIDELLI–Yamaha 115

11 Pol ESPARGARÓ–KTM 94

12 Joan MIR–Suzuki 83

13 Takaaki NAKAGAMI–Honda 74

14 Aleix ESPARGARÓ–Aprilia 56

15 Francesco BAGNAIA–Ducati 54

16 Andrea IANNONE–Aprilia 43

17 Miguel OLIVEIRA–KTM 33

18 Johann ZARCO–Honda 30

19 Jorge LORENZO–Honda 25

20 Tito RABAT–Ducati 18

21 Stefan BRADL–Honda 16

22 Michele PIRRO–Ducati 9

23 Hafizh SYAHRIN–KTM 8

24 Sylvain GUINTOLI–Suzuki 7

25 Karel ABRAHAM–Ducati 7

26 Mika KALLIO–KTM 3

27 Bradley SMITH–Aprilia 0

Photos © motogp.com / Dorna