Dovizioso admits FP4 crash cause of poor qualifying
MotoGP title contender Andrea Dovizioso admits his crash in fourth practice at Phillip Island was the main cause for a disappointing run to 11th in qualifying.
Andrea Dovizioso, Ducati Team
Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Dovizioso fell after Lukey Heights during FP4, before going on to finish second-to-last in Q2, trailing poleman and championship rival Marc Marquez by 1.110s.
The Italian said he didn't have a good feeling aboard his Desmosedici after his practice incident, and he made "three mistakes" during his fastest lap.
"It is a consequence of the crash," said Dovizioso when asked why he could qualify no better than 11th. "If we check my pace yesterday and today in FP4 it was quite good.
"The only riders who went fast with the medium were Marc, [Johann] Zarco and me. All the other riders on the medium were quite slow. So I think we confirm a good speed.
"But most of the riders used the soft tyre and in qualifying I didn't have a perfect feeling to really make a good laptime.
"Phillip Island has a strange characteristic - you have to be so confident and make a lot of speed in the fast corners. If you don't have a really good feeling it is so easy to lose tenths corner-by-corner and this is what happened.
"With a bad feeling I did three mistakes at my fastest lap I was able to make a better laptime so... no excuse, but for sure the reality about the pace in the race is completely different."
Lorenzo "even less competitive" than on Friday
Dovizioso's teammate Lorenzo, who had a poor Friday, was even less successful, as he was eliminated in Q1 and will only start 16th in the race.
He said all the Ducati riders, except Dovizioso, struggle more than usual at Phillip Island.
"We didn’t start very well yesterday, but today in general was worse," said Lorenzo. "We were not competitive, even less competitive than yesterday.
"It’s not our track. Dovi is in very good shape with the bike, mentally he’s strong, he’s doing well. He crashed in FP4 so he probably lost a bit of confidence. But he’s riding really well.
"The rest of the Ducatis, we are mostly struggling more than other tracks."
Lorenzo also had a crash in a wet third practice session, hurting his ankle, but reckons he can manage the pain during the race.
"I feel pain in the ankle, walking," he admitted. "On the bike I’m not the same as yesterday but I can manage.
"The problem is you cannot push so much with the foot, you have to use more the upper body, so you get more tired. Everything has a consequence.
"Not going to be easy, a lot of laps, a very physical track. It’s going to be tough. But we have to do our best."
Additional reporting by Oriol Puigdemont
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