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Qualifying report

Dovizioso qualifies on row 2 for tomorrow’s Spanish GP, Crutchlow and Pirro further back on grid

Andrea Dovizioso's second run powered him to sixth place, one second away from the top slot.

Andrea Dovizioso, Ducati Team

Andrea Dovizioso, Ducati Team

Ducati Corse

Andrea Dovizioso has qualified in sixth place for the Spanish Grand Prix, the fourth round of the 2014 MotoGP World Championship, which will take place tomorrow at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit. The Ducati Team rider, who had concluded the three free practice sessions that give direct access into Q2 in eighth place, managed to take another couple of tenths off his time in the final qualifying session, using two extra-soft rear tyres. The Italian’s second run powered him to sixth place, one second away from the top slot.

Day 2 of the Jerez action was not so positive for Cal Crutchlow, who only stepped back onto his GP14 yesterday after missing the Argentina GP due to an injury in his right hand he suffered at Austin. Battling against increasing pain due to effort and fatigue, the British rider tried to end the day with a decent performance, but had to settle for fourth in Q1, which meant that he did not go through to Q2. As a result Cal will start from row 5 in tomorrow’s race.

Michele Pirro, the Ducati Test Team rider, qualified in seventeenth place after a positive morning when he lapped just outside the top 10. The Italian rider will start from the sixth row.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 6th (1m39.222s): “I am very happy with qualifying and the time that I did, even more so because I did it on my own. I think I really managed to get the best out of my bike in these very difficult conditions because the temperature is very high for the tyres we had available. I got an unexpected second row start and this will help us for the race, because Jerez is a narrow track, and in the early laps you can lose a lot of time if you don’t start up at the front. I’m a bit worried for the race, because our pace is not so quick and above all there is a performance drop after several laps: when it’s so hot, everything becomes more difficult for us. In my view, after the top 5 riders there will be a small group with a similar pace, and we’ll have to fight it out with them in the race: starting from row 2 will surely help us.”

Cal Crutchlow (Ducati Team #35) – 14th (1m39.849s): “I am a bit disappointed with the end result and the qualifying position, but I think it was as to be expected for this weekend. We really struggled with the grip at the front and the rear of the bike, and I didn’t have confidence to push with the bike as much as possible. When I tried I made some mistakes and was at my limit. However I tried my best but the times were very close and it was difficult to get through to Q1, I was disappointed about that. The hand is getting sorer every session so it’s becoming difficult, but thanks also to the assistance the Clinica Mobile are giving me, I will try my best to do a good race tomorrow.”

Michele Pirro (Ducati Team #51) – 17th (1m40.239s): “This morning didn’t go bad because I was close to the top 10, only that this afternoon we tried some new solutions and I was unable to improve. I only used one extra-soft tyre and perhaps this penalized me; maybe if I had used another I could have shaved off a few more vital tenths. For sure my grid position is not an easy one. It’s a shame because throughout the weekend we had some pretty positive practice sessions. However my feeling with the GP14 is much better than it was in Argentina.”

Ducati Team

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