DOVI LAPS IT UP
Andrea’s record time
DUCATI’S Andrea Dovizioso smashed the lap record in practice yesterday ahead of tomorrow’s Austrian MotoGP race in Spielberg.
The Italian rider knows he needs nothing less than victory to keep his title hopes on track.
And he produced a scorching lap with Maverick Vinales pressing hard.
Dovizioso (inset), who lies third in the standings and 21 points behind series leader and reigning champion Marc Marquez, broke the lap record with a time of 1min 24.046 secs.
The Italian needs a win after last Sunday’s rainaffected race at Brno, in the Czech Republic, when he finished sixth.
Dovizioso knows Spielberg is a circuit where the Ducatis go well. Last year he was only narrowly beaten into second place by then team-mate Andrea Iannone.
“If we consider last year’s result then we are amongst the favourites and I knew we could for sure be competitive from the start,” said Dovizioso.
“Brno was not what we expected unfortunately and we lost a lot of points in the championship.” Vinales, second in the title race, closed his Movistar Yamaha to within 0.234secs of the Ducati, while Dani Pedrosa ran third for Repsol Honda. Former champion Jorge Lorenzo eased his factory Ducati into fifth, ahead of Hector Barbera – pacesetter in the morning session on an Avintia Ducati. But Marquez, the winner of the last two races, managed only seven laps in the second session as he worked on tyre selection for his Repsol Honda. Even so, his best lap of 1min 24.649secs was only 0.603secs down on Dovizioso and enough to outpace Cal Crutchlow on the LCR Honda. Scott Redding ran 10th on the Pramac Ducati but the Brit fears for his future with Aussie Jack Miller joining next season to ride alongside team No.1 Danilo Petrucci. Redding could switch to the Gresini Aprilia team in place of Sam Lowes, who is having a tough time in his first term in the top flight.