Dovizioso eighth, Crutchlow thirteenth in French GP free practice at Le Mans

Today was a day of highs and lows for the Ducati Team at the Le Mans circuit in France. While Andrea Dovizioso managed to be competitive in the two free practice sessions, his British team-mate Cal Crutchlow struggled to find a good feeling with his Desmosedici GP14.

The Italian rider, seventh in the morning session when the temperature was quite cold, was even at the top of the timesheets for a short period of time in the afternoon, but after setting a best time in 1’34.117, had to settle for a provisional eighth place.

Crutchlow on the other hand encountered a few more problems, and despite knocking half a second off his time in the second session, was unable to establish a good feeling with his bike.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 8th (1’34.117): “I am very happy with the pace I had today when I lapped with the same tyres as the other riders. We are in the group at the front, in amongst the fastest riders, and this is positive. So I’m satisfied with the work we did today, even though I think that we can still improve the set-up. At the end of the session I didn’t put on another tyre because I had already set a good time and I was sure I was going to be in the top 10. In any case the weekend has started well and my feeling with this track here at Le Mans, is positive as always.”

Cal Crutchlow (Ducati Team #35) – 13th (1’34.907): “It wasn't a good day for me; we tried a few different things with the bike but it felt exactly the same as always. Everything I tried with the settings, the bike feels like it has understeer and I cannot turn, so we lose in the braking area and in turning. It seems that nothing we tried at the test at Mugello is working here at the moment but we have to work with the team tonight and see what we can come up with for tomorrow because I have to improve.”

Ducati Team