The 2019 MotoGP season is going to commence this weekend. Its first race will take place at the Losail International Track in Qatar, the only night race in the entire MotoGP calendar. Things are looking good for team Ducati and it is all set for the round 1.
Ducati had quite a successful session at the 2019 Sepang test. On the last day, the top 4 positions were occupied by Ducati Desmosedici bikes. Also, Petrucci set a new unofficial lap record. Things didn’t go as planned in the final test at Qatar but that doesn’t decide the fate of the team.
Riding for the team Ducati in 2019 season will be Andrea Dovizioso and Danilo Petrucci. 32-year-old Dovi is ready to begin his 12th year in MotoGP and 7th consecutive with the Ducati outfit. In 2018 season he had four wins and finished in the second position overall for the second consecutive year with nine podiums overall.
He says, “We worked positively and methodically during the winter break, and I’m confident we’ll be ready to put up a fight from the very first round. The lap times from the tests, especially in Qatar, don’t really show the whole picture since most riders mostly worked on race pace. As for us, we collected plenty of interesting data and we analyzed it into great detail to come up with the best possible strategy ahead of this round. We’ll be able to assess our level and that of our opponents more in-depth only once we take it back to the track, but what matters is that our feeling with the bike has been very good up to this point.”
Giving company to Dovizioso this season will be Danilo Petrucci. He is keen to make his official debut in factory colors after showing his competitiveness onboard the Pramac Racing Team’s Ducati in the past four seasons, the last two of which saw him battle for top overall position among independent riders until the very end of the year.
“I’m happy with the way the tests went and ready to begin a new season. From the very first outing with the team, I’ve been trying to further optimize my approach, both physically and mentally, to make the most of this opportunity. I’ve also made some important changes to my training and dietary regimes, and I feel as ready as ever for the upcoming battle. We managed to be fast in each session during the winter tests, but in the end it’s the race that matters, and that’s usually a different story. We have a lot of competitive rivals, especially on this track given the recent tests done here: it won’t be easy to put them behind us, but I’m confident we have some good cards up our sleeve,” says Petrucci.
The Qatar GP is scheduled for Sunday night at 20:00 local time (CET +2). Make sure you have this pinned in your calendar for this weekend.
