The Ducati Team riders completed the first official MotoGP test 2020 in Sepang, Malaysia two weeks ago and were back in action in Losail in fifteen days for the last three test days before the start of the championship at the same race location in Qatar.
On the opening day of the last pre-season test with clear skies and temperatures of around 25 degrees, the Italian squad was able to resume the Desmosedici GP20 development program, which mainly focused on testing new components and improving the bike setup for the race.
The first Ducati team rider to hit the track a few minutes after the pit lane opened at 1:00 p.m. local time was Danilo Petrucci, who is fourth fastest today. The driver from Terni covered a total of 41 laps and set his fastest lap time of 1: 54.634 with a soft tire in the last minutes of the day.
Andrea Dovizioso finished the race in 11th place with a fastest lap in 1: 55.308, just 0.654 seconds ahead of his teammate. The rider from Forlì, who suffered a small crash at Turn 8 towards the end of the day, was satisfied with his first day of testing in Qatar as he had a good feeling with his Desmosedici GP20 and a solid rider to prepare for the first MotoGP Grand Prix of the year.
Tomorrow, Petrucci and Dovizioso are back on track for the second day of the Qatar test. A further seven hours of free training are available from 1:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. local time (CET + 2:00 a.m.).
Danilo Petrucci (# 9 Ducati Team) – 1: 54.634 (4º)
“It was a complicated first day of testing. Unfortunately, a few small problems prevented us from taking full advantage of the route time available today. Still, the feeling on the bike is good and now we just have to keep walking to get more confirmation of our work. I am very happy with the behavior of the Desmosedici, even if there are still some aspects that we need to improve, but I hope we can take another step forward tomorrow. “
Andrea Dovizioso (# 04 Ducati Team) – 1: 55.308 (11º)
“I’m very satisfied today because we had a good feeling with the bike that was better than the one I had in Malaysia. We did a couple of tests and all of them were positive. Unfortunately, we couldn’t finish the program we had today, but generally we had a good pace and could do the fastest lap time on a medium tire that had done seventeen laps. Just a shame I had a small crash towards the end of the session that didn’t allow us to complete an interesting test. “