Czech Republic GP: Dovizioso ninth, Hayden tenth in Brno qualifying

Following qualifying for the Czech Republic GP, Andrea Dovizioso’s and Nicky Hayden’s positions were the same as yesterday—ninth and tenth, respectively—but the Italian in particular was happier with his performance than he had been at the end of day one.

Conditions were cooler in the Q2 session than they had been on Friday afternoon, with the air temperature measuring 21º C and the track surface registering 30º (70º and 86º F), and Dovizioso’s Desmosedici GP13 gave him a good enough feeling that his final lap put him onto the third row for tomorrow. Hayden, meanwhile, is still unsatisfied with his bike’s setup, and he and his team will try to make a positive step in tomorrow morning's warm-up session to better prepare him for the race.

Andrea Dovizioso - Ducati Team, 9th (1:56.825)
“We knew it would be tough, but it went better than we could’ve expected before today's sessions. I thought it would be difficult to get under 1’57”, but I was able to do it. There was a bit of traffic on the track, so I was waiting to get a free lap, and I managed to do a good time on the last lap. I’m happy because we were able to improve over yesterday, when it was warmer and it was hard for all the Ducati riders. Things went better today, both in the morning and in the afternoon. The weather conditions for tomorrow are somewhat uncertain, but with this temperature we can have a decent pace.”

Nicky Hayden - Ducati Team, 10th (1:56.979)
“If I’m honest, today hasn’t been as good as we’d wished. We worked extremely hard and tried a lot of stuff to get a better feeling and improve the bike over the bumps and in the turns, but we haven’t been able to make any big steps. Maybe I confused myself a little bit too. It’s certainly frustrating for the gap to be so big, not just to the front, but also to the group ahead of me. In the morning warm-up, we’ll see what kind of a setup we can find for the race.”

Ducati Team