Andrea Dovizioso sets the pace on the opening day of MotoGP testing in Qatar, with Jorge Lorenzo not far off in fifth at the Losail circuit

Andrea Dovizioso wrapped up the first day of the final MotoGP pre-season test session taking place from today until Sunday at the Losail International Circuit at the top of the timesheets. The Ducati Team’s Italian rider was the only man to get under the 1m55s mark and he ended up by setting the quickest time of the day in 1’54.819 on his 26th lap.

 

Team-mate Jorge Lorenzo also put in a positive performance today, with the Spanish rider completing a total of 45 laps and setting a best time of 1’55.616 on lap 27.

 

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 36 laps – 1’54.819 (1st)

“In this first day of testing at Losail I had a really good feeling with my Desmosedici GP, better than I had expected, and the sensations were positive just like in Malaysia. We tried several different types of interesting set-up, which gave us some important feedback. Today everyone was very quick, but in any case I was able to set my time quite easily. We know we still have to improve certain aspects, but to start the tests in this way helps us a lot for the work that we have to do in the next couple of days.”

 

Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team #99) – 46 laps – 1’55.616 (5th)

“This has been my best first day in all of the recent tests: right from the start we were always up with the leaders, and we were also quickest on the track before ending the day in fifth place. It’s important to see that my team-mate Andrea Dovizioso was also very quick, proving that the Ducati goes really strongly on this track and that also I have margin for improvement. I still don’t have a perfect feeling with my bike, but every time I go out I feel more and more at ease with it and this circuit is certainly favourable for us. Tomorrow we will continue to try out some other solutions, but the conclusions we reached after today were very positive.”