There is no other race as important to Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso than this weekend's Valencia GP. Lying 21 points behind his title rival Repsol Honda rider Marc Marquez, Dovi knows that he has a mountain to climb this weekend if he even dares to dream that he will be crowned champion on Sunday afternoon.
However, he did manage to get the weekend off to a positive start by finishing in third place overall and ahead of his title rivalโฆ
โIt was rather a productive day, because we tried a number of different solutions and got a good idea for the race. I'm pleased with my speed but not so much with the feeling I have with the bike at the moment, because for the race you will have to ride smoother than today. Marquez and Pedrosa showed that for the moment they have the best race pace, but at any rate I think we still have room to improve, by working on the electronics and the chassis tomorrow.โ
Meanwhile, Marc Marquez ended both FP1 and FP2 in fifth place, despite suffering a small crash in turn 2 at the end of the day.
The Championship leader showed a fast pace using just one set of tires in each session, his focus set on being prepared for Sunday's race.
โI felt really good today, we just tried to work hard for the race, riding with used tires to find the best setting and the best compromise. We tried two different setups, one similar to what we used last year and one more based on what we've been using recently,โ he said. โTomorrow we'll adjust the final details and we'll go for a time attack, but I'm happy with the general feeling.โ
โ Our pace this morning, on a medium rear tire, was good and in the afternoon I felt well on a soft rear, despite a small crash during my last lap when I was pushing a little bit more. It was important to start the weekend well, and I feel good on the bike, so we'll try to keep this momentum going until Sunday.โ
