Dovizioso fastest, Rabat surprises in warm-up
Much of Saturday’s talk surrounded Jorge Lorenzo and his mid-season Ducati renaissance, but factory team-mate Andrea Dovizioso served a timely reminder of his race-day potential by topping MotoGP morning warm-up at the Circuit of Catalunya.
Dovizioso, a front row qualifier yesterday afternoon, led a Ducati one-two, with Tito Rabat surprising by setting the second quickest time of the 20-minute session, his lap just 0.082s slower than the Italian.
Much of Saturday’s talk surrounded Jorge Lorenzo and his mid-season Ducati renaissance, but factory team-mate Andrea Dovizioso served a timely reminder of his race-day potential by topping MotoGP morning warm-up at the Circuit of Catalunya.
Dovizioso, a front row qualifier yesterday afternoon, led a Ducati one-two, with Tito Rabat surprising by setting the second quickest time of the 20-minute session, his lap just 0.082s slower than the Italian.
Indeed the top three could barely be separated, with Valentino Rossi the first of the Yamahas in third, 0.085s back of countryman Dovizioso. Marc Marquez was fourth, narrowly ahead of Johann Zarco (fifth) and Jorge Lorenzo (sixth).
The #99’s efforts to challenge his team-mate’s times were frustrated in the session’s closing moments; Lorenzo was on course to post the fastest time through sector three, only to find Aleix Espargaro touring on the exit of the final turn. Cue angry headshaking and mild finger wagging.
Danilo Petrucci (seventh), Andrea Iannone (eighth), Jack Miller (ninth) and Maverick Viñales (tenth) were all in the top ten, having lapped the 2.8-mile track within half a second of Dovizioso.
Alvaro Bautista was the sole crasher in the session.
