Tough start for Ducati Team riders on first day of practice for Argentina Grand Prix at Termas de Río Hondo

Today was a difficult day at Termas de Río Hondo for the two Ducati Team riders. At the end of today’s two scheduled free practice sessions at the Argentinean circuit, Andrea Dovizioso was classified in fourteenth place with his team-mate four places behind in eighteenth.

 

The Italian rider set seventh quickest time in the morning’s FP1 run, but in the afternoon session, despite improving by more than three-tenths of a second, Dovizioso had to settle for fourteenth overall in the day’s standings.

 

Jorge Lorenzo, who was fifteenth in the first free practice session, also improved his time by over half-a-second in FP2 but the Spanish rider was unable to go any better than  eighteenth at the end of the first day of action at Termas.

 

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 1’40.399 (14th)

“This afternoon’s session was a bit strange: there were a few aspects of the bike that in my opinion didn’t work well and so I was not able to lap with any sort of continuity during the session. I didn’t have a good rhythm and we weren’t entirely sorted regarding the electronics, and it was a real pity to be outside the top 10 because tomorrow it might rain.”

 

Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team #99) - 1’40.599 (18th)

“We are certainly not happy with today’s position, but in the penultimate exit of the second session things were going well and had a good feeling with my bike. Unfortunately at the end we fitted the soft front tyre and this was probably a mistake, because I am convinced that with the harder tyre I could have knocked a few tenths off my time and improved my position a lot. Let’s hope that the weather is OK tomorrow and that it will allow us to lap on a dry track both in FP3 and in qualifying.”