Ducati Team conclude first day of practice for the Malaysian GP

The first two free practice sessions for the Shell Advance Malaysian Grand Prix took place today at Sepang, and the two Ducati Team riders Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow ended the day in seventh and eighth place respectively thanks to the times they set during the morning session.

A tropical downpour lashed the Malaysian circuit early in the afternoon, delaying the start of FP2 by some minutes. When the riders eventually went out on track, it was totally wet, but the sun came out during the session and the track began to dry.

None of the riders managed to improve their morning times however, and Dovizioso finished the afternoon run in fourth place and Crutchlow tenth.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 7th (2’01.971): “Today was a bit of a strange day: this morning the grip wasn’t very good, and so the times can’t really be relied on, but I think the conditions of the track will improve tomorrow. This afternoon we had a good run in the wet, but it’s always strange to lap in these conditions here at Sepang because usually the track dries out very quickly. I am quite happy with today, even though we still have a few things to improve, and tomorrow hopefully we can lap on a dry track.”

Cal Crutchlow (Ducati Team #35) – 8th (2’02.171): “I’m quite pleased with today: I felt we had good pace and also in the dry it was better than expected, but we still need to gain some grip in those conditions. I was able to run a good pace with the rain initially in the session when it was full wet, but when the track became drier we didn’t alter the setting of the bike and struggled a bit for rear grip, but we think we know the direction to go. I had some fun on the track today, hopefully it’ll be the same for the rest of the weekend.”

Ducati Team