Two weeks after his Silverstone pole, Jorge Lorenzo has done it once again at the Misano Adriatico circuit by setting a new outright track record during the second qualifying session. His time of 1’31.629 means the Spanish rider has now set three poles this season, taking the Ducati Team up to a total of 40 pole positions in the Italian manufacturer’s history in MotoGP.
A second row start goes to Andrea Dovizioso, who finished fourth at the end of Q2 with a time of 1’32.003 while Michele Pirro, entered as a wild-card at Misano with the Desmosedici GP of the Ducati Test Team, crashed during Q1 and had to settle for 14th on the grid and a row 5 start.
The San Marino GP, which will be held over a distance of 27 laps, gets underway tomorrow at 14.00 CET.
Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team #99) – 1st (1’31.629)
“I’m very pleased and proud of this second successive pole position, my third of the season, because it confirms that we are working really well, that we’ve improved a lot of details and now we have at our disposal a competitive bike that allows us to set times like the one today at Misano. I was already impressed by the time set on my first run with the medium tyre, and I was in doubt whether or not to also try the soft one, but in the end we fitted it on my third run and I was able to get my time down even more and set the new track record. As well as my good feelings, I think that tomorrow’s race will be a really tough and physical battle and it will be important to make the right choice of tyres to be fast and consistent.”
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 4th (1’32.003)
“All in all, it was a very positive day, both this morning and in the afternoon. Unfortunately, in qualifying I was unable to do a perfect lap because I just wasn’t smooth enough. Pity, because the bike was fast and so we could have done better. For tomorrow we have a good race pace and we are in the leading group. As so often happens, it’ll be the small details that make all the difference because there are at least four or five riders who can fight for the podium and the win tomorrow.”
Michele Pirro (Ducati Test Team #51) – 14th (1’32.624)
“I’m disappointed because I couldn’t get into Q2, even though I had the potential to do a good time. Unfortunately, I crashed while I was trying to shave off a few tenths, but in general I’m getting up to speed again and when I have the opportunity to lap well, I’m improving all the time. Now we’ve got a really great bike, and I only have to try and get the best out of it seeing as I haven’t had a chance to race it in the last few months. Tomorrow I’ll try and do a consistent race and keep up a good pace seeing as in the FP4 session I was more or less on the same pace as the leading group.”
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