Ducati Team riders pull through second day of MotoGP test in Qatar

Michelle L.

February 24, 2020

Today marks the last day of the Official MotoGP Test in Losail, Qatar.

Ducati (Danilo Petrucci)

The Ducati Team made their appearance at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar for the Official MotoGP Test ahead of the 2020 season. Riders Andrea Dovizioso and Danilo Petrucci made it through the second day on Sunday with good laps.

After an optimistic first round on Saturday, Dovizioso and Petrucci resumed work on Sunday afternoon on their Desmosedici GP20 bikes. Due to favourable weather, both riders were able to maintain their momentum on good track conditions.

Dovizioso managed to clock 60 laps on his tally and ended his second-day run with a fastest lap in 1:54.662, which is half a second faster than his performance the first day. The Italian rider is satisfied with the results as he was faster and closer to the top of the timesheets. As for teammate and compatriot Petrucci, he ended his run with a fastest lap record of 1:54.852, which is 0.814 seconds behind Sunday’s pacesetter.

Monday will be the last day for the Ducati Team riders to complete the development of their Desmosedici bikes. The MotoGP season opener will be held at Losail, Qatar on March 8, 2020.

 Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) – As It Happened

Photo credits: Ducati

“I am happier compared to yesterday because we were able to move forward with a huge part of our testing program. Now we have a clearer idea of the situation. We are fast, and our pace is good, but so are our opponents. For sure there are details that we will be able to understand only during a race weekend. While in a test, as we are riding alone, we can only get an idea of on which area we need to focus in order to improve. Today we did a few consecutive laps to understand the effects on the tyre life. In general, I am satisfied. Now we will continue with our program also tomorrow,” says Dovizioso as quoted from Ducati.

Danilo Petrucci (Ducati Team) – As It Happened

Photo credits: MotoGP

“Today, we were able to take better advantage of the track time available. I am delighted with the work we have done. We did a few tests with a rear medium tyre compound, and we were able to keep a good pace for several laps. Compared to fastest riders we are still missing a few tenths of a second. But today we didn’t focus on lap times. I am confident that we have the potential to battle at the front with them. Unfortunately, we had some small issues that didn’t allow us to continue until the end of the session. But despite that, I am happy. I hope we will able to make a further step forward, as the program sees a race simulation also scheduled for tomorrow”.