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Andrea Dovizioso expected to find himself in a very different condition on Friday of the second Aragon test, but unfortunately the reality is very difficult to swallow. The data returned by the combined ranking from the first day of free practice is difficult to misinterpret. All four Ducati GP20s on the track are propping up the grid right now, with Dovizioso 19 and closely surrounded by Miller, Petrucci and Bagnaia.
A complex situation, This, however, does not destroy the spirits and determination of Dovizioso, who sees the glass as half full at the end of the first day of free practice, despite the fact that the stopwatch has little to show.
“As I said yesterday I expected to be more competitive and instead the opposite happened – explained Dovizioso with his usual clarity – today the wind did not help us, the Ducati suffers from this problem perhaps more than the other motorcycles, but in any case, I think Honda riders are the strongest right now, they have a better bike than the others and they are fast. They have an incredible rhythm, something unreal. Only the two Suzukis are on a similar level, they are doing very well. We have not advanced, we suffer with the wind and we have some problems with the tires. In the afternoon I did not ride much on the soft, which was a goal of the session. This year with the soft there is more potential but we have to do 23 laps. The fact is that we have the same speed as a few days ago, while the others have gone further. “
The difficulty is for all Ducati riders.
“When all the bikes like yours are behind, there is a reason, there is no point in making excuses. But there is work and work on the track. Jack has adapted quite well, this year he does what it takes to work well in the race. When you’re not feeling good, you work to focus on the last session, to get into the top ten. When you don’t have the speed you have to do this and use the tires when you can give it your all. Otherwise, you run the risk of abusing the tires and being left out of Q2. Tomorrow morning we have two tires to play but this type of work is done when you are not competitive and you need to have a strategy ”.
But do you think that what you saw today is the real situation of the Ducati in Aragon?
“It’s not reality. I’m sure Jack, me and Pecco didn’t put new tires on either, so we didn’t push too much and we can stay ahead in qualifying. Tomorrow I think we can fight to stay in the top ten. But our goal It is not that, it is fighting for the top and that is all, we are fighting for positions that are not ours, that is the problem. We have a chance to get into Q2. We didn’t do a real-time attack, we don’t have a benchmark. I could have done the necessary time today to stay in the top ten, but tomorrow the track will be faster and I am afraid that to stay in 10 we will have to go below 1’48 and I see it difficult for us ”.
The risk is that there will be many of you with Ducatis in the first trimester. In that case, is there a strategy in your opinion?
“The problem is that without speed you don’t even have a strategy. From this point of view you just have to be quick. Now we only have two concerns. One is to understand more about the setup and improve for the race. Two to make the time, the perfect lap. A good lap is not enough in our conditions, you need the perfect lap to be in the top ten and when you don’t have a good feeling on the bike it’s not easy to do it ”.
Today, many cyclists experimented with tires. Why?
“Today everyone worked in the opposite way to last week. Those who used softs in today’s race made different decisions, to try other solutions. Today we saw something bad for us because many drivers were very fast in race pace. The potential of the medium tires is less than that of the soft ones and many drivers were very fast on them, we have to worry about that. The pace of the fastest ones scares me. We have better potential, but knowing how to stay with the best is a completely different story. “
Why did some bikes adapt immediately, like the Yamaha in the first days of last week and then they just sank?
“In my opinion the Yamaha is easier to push to the limit immediately, It is a type of bicycle that suffers less from the conditions we encountered a few days ago here, such as the low temperature. Even if you don’t set record times right away, you’re more confident and get some margin, but they actually hit the limit right away. Our bike is more difficult to push to the limit, But the more laps on a track, the more conditions improve and the easier it is to exploit the bike’s true potential. It’s not something that just happened this weekend, it happens on multiple tracks to see this progression. They left fast right away, we arrived later and we are still arriving now. So in general, we shouldn’t stop at single days. The Honda could also be seen as a surprise, but in reality it has always been strong in Aragon. “
If I had the option today, would I go back to Michelin 2019?
“I would answer yes, it is clear that we are not getting used to it well and I would return. But that matters little, there is only one tire. A decision is made on which tires to use and must be adapted. These days don’t help morale, but I’m used to it. Let’s stay calm and keep working. “
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