Dovizioso 4th, Crutchlow 8th for Ducati Team on Day 1 of Italian GP at Mugello

Andrea Dovizioso started off the Mugello weekend in a positive way today, setting fourth quickest time this morning in the first free practice session for the Italian Grand Prix. Team-mate Cal Crutchlow was eighth quickest, with a time he also set in the morning, while the Ducati Team’s test-rider Michele Pirro ended the day in 14th place.

Unfortunately in the afternoon, light rain began to fall just before the second session, making the track damp and slippery and so almost all of the riders decided to stay in their pit garages.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 4th (1’48.518)
“This morning we started off quite well and set some good lap times. However we have to do some laps in different conditions because in the race we will probably find a track that is warmer than this morning, which will surely change the situation. Our start wasn’t bad therefore, but we have to continue to work hard tomorrow. This afternoon on the other hand, the conditions weren’t good enough to go out, it didn’t make much sense to lap on a damp track.”

Cal Crutchlow (Ducati Team #35) – 8th (1’48.980)
“Today was about familiarization with the track and the Ducati in the morning session. The lap times for a lot of the guys seemed close. I’m a bit disappointed we never got out in the second session, but this was due to the condition of the track – half-wet, half-dry for everybody is not a good situation. We lost some time for the set-up work, but tomorrow we’ll look to improve.”

Michele Pirro (Ducati Test Team #51) – 14th (1’50.030)
“I’m disappointed because this morning we had a problem with the bike and I didn’t manage to set a good time. Pity, because in the tests we went very well. I hoped to be able to make up time in the afternoon, but because of the track conditions I only managed to do a couple of laps to check that the second bike was working well. If the weather is better tomorrow, we’ll try and move further up.”