Dovizioso 8th and Petrucci 10th at the European Grand Prix in Valencia
After two days of rain and uncertain weather, the sun finally returned to shine at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Cheste, allowing the MotoGP riders to face both this morning’s short warm-up session and the European Grand Prix held this afternoon in dry track conditions.
Starting with the twelfth fastest time set yesterday in a wet qualifying session, Andrea Dovizioso managed to recover some positions immediately after the start, passing eighth across the line on the first lap. As he dropped back into tenth place again after a few laps, the rider from Forlì managed to recover two positions towards the end of the race eventually crossing the finishing line in eighth place.
Danilo Petrucci, who qualified with the nineteenth fastest time, started eighteenth today, having recovered a grid position with Viñales forced to start from the pit lane. Fifteenth on the first lap, the Umbrian rider was able to catch up till eleventh place, to then start chasing down Morbidelli, who was sitting in tenth place. Petrucci finally managed to catch him and pass him with six laps to go, ending the race in the top ten.
After the twelfth round of the 2020 MotoGP World Championship, Andrea Dovizioso occupies the sixth position in the overall standings, tied on points with Franco Morbidelli fifth, while Danilo Petrucci is eleventh with 77 points. Ducati is second in the Manufacturers’ classification, just 7 points from the top of the standings, while the Ducati Team occupies third place in the Teams’ standings.
Andrea Dovizioso:
“I wasn’t feeling very well physically today, but fortunately, I managed to be consistent in the race. In the first laps, I recovered several positions, but in the beginning, my feeling with the bike wasn’t good. Only towards the end of the race, I was able to have a good speed, and this is an interesting aspect that we will have to focus on. I’m not happy with today’s result, but now we have some interesting data to work on ahead of the next GP, which will take place here in Valencia again next Sunday.”
Danilo Petrucci:
“I managed to make a good comeback today in the race, and I am quite satisfied with the tenth place. Today’s result was affected by my grid position, but considering that we didn’t have much time to test in the dry, I had a good pace in the race. Now we will work on the data collected to try to improve the setup and the start in the next Grand Prix that will take place once again here in Valencia.”
Next week, the Ducati Team will be back at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Cheste for the thirteenth round of the 2020 MotoGP season, the Gran Premio de la Comunitad Valenciana scheduled from 13th-15th November.
