Andrea Dovizioso a été l’auteur du meilleur temps à chacune des deux premières séances d’essais du Grand Prix TIM d’Italie.
À domicile ce week-end et sur un circuit où il était venu plus tôt dans le mois pour un test privé avec Ducati, Andrea Dovizioso a démarré très fort au Grand Prix TIM d’Italie et s’annonce déjà comme l’homme à battre pour les qualifications.
Avec un nouveau casque mais aussi un nouveau carénage pour sa GP15, l’Italien a d’abord devancé d’un rien Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) et son coéquipier Andrea Iannone (Ducati) le matin avant de se confirmer en tête du classement l’après-midi, avec 0.164s d’avance sur Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda), vainqueur au Mugello en 2014, et 0.373s sur Lorenzo.
Alors que les pilotes Factory de Honda et de Yamaha disposent de pneus arrière en gomme medium et dure ce week-end, ceux de Ducati ont le choix entre la gomme tendre et la gomme medium, que Dovizioso a privilégiée pour cette première journée afin de concentrer ses efforts sur la préparation de la course. L’Italien attendra samedi pour tirer profit de la gomme tendre et viser sa seconde pole position de la saison après celle du Qatar.
Avec 33 points de retard sur Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP), Márquez doit à tout prix revenir sur le podium ce week-end en Italie après l’avoir manqué au Mans et est bien parti puisqu’il avait commencé la journée en quatrième position, à un peu plus d’un dixième de Dovizioso, et l’a finie à la seconde place. Le Champion en titre avait l’an dernier remporté l’épreuve du Mugello juste devant Lorenzo, qui complétait le Top 3 de la journée.
Après avoir découvert qu’il souffrait d’une fracture à la tête de l’humérus (bras) gauche quelques jours avant de prendre la route du Mugello, Andrea Iannone (Ducati) n’a pas eu trop de soucis pour se montrer compétitif et a terminé en quatrième position, en étant toutefois le seul pilote du Top 10 à avoir réalisé son meilleur temps le matin plutôt que l’après-midi.
Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3) est le premier pilote satellite dans le classement combiné, à plus d’une demi-seconde de Dovizioso, en cinquième position et juste devant son compatriote Cal Crutchlow (CWM LCR Honda).
Récemment opéré du pouce droit, Aleix Espargaró (Team Suzuki Ecstar) a souffert sur les freinages et notamment celui de San Donato, au bout de l’une des plus longues lignes droites du calendrier, mais était tout de même septième, devant Scott Redding (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) et Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP).
Sixième à quatre dixièmes de seconde du leader le matin, Rossi s’est ensuite fait distancer l’après-midi et a terminé neuvième sur le classement combiné, à sept dixièmes de seconde de Dovizioso et après une courte sortie de piste causée par un freinage manqué dans le premier virage.
Inscrit en wildcard sur GP15, Michele Pirro participe à son premier Grand Prix de l’année et s’est classé douzième, derrière Pol Espargaró (Monster Yamaha Tech3) et Yonny Hernández (Octo Pramac Racing).
Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) a quant à lui conclu en quatorzième position, à près d’une seconde de la première place, tandis que Héctor Barberá (Avintia Racing) était le premier pilote Open, à la seizième place.
Les Français Loris Baz (Athinà Forward Racing) et Mike Di Meglio (Avintia Racing) occupent respectivement les 21e et 22e positions, juste devant Álvaro Bautista, qui étrenne la nouvelle transmission seamless de la RS-GP ce week-end avec l’Aprilia Racing Team Gresini.
Les essais libres de la catégorie MotoGP™ reprennent samedi matin à 9h55 au Grand Prix TIM d’Italie.
Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso dominated the opening day at Mugello, topping both Free Practice sessions.
Ducati were always going to be a force to be reckoned with at Mugello, especially as the Factory team completed a private test at the Tuscany circuit recently, and they sent the partisan crowd home happy after topping the combined timesheets after day one of the Gran Premio d’Italia TIM.
Dovizioso improved his time from the morning session by over four-tenths of a second to set a 1.’47.479. The Italian hitting the ground running straight away in FP1, clearly taking advantage of the data gathered during that test to find a good set-up straight away: “I am very happy with how this weekend has started for us and above all with the time I set at the end of the session. We are quick and this is fundamental in the search for the best set-up. We are still carrying out some tests in order to improve certain aspects of the Desmosedici GP15 that will allow us to be competitive right until the end of the race.
Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez improved throughout the day as he tried a number of different set-up combinations in an effort to deal with the front end issues and engine problems the RC213V has been suffering from this season. The reigning MotoGP™ World Champion seemed to find something that worked, as he ended the day just 0.164s behind Dovizioso in second place overall: “Overall, today went quite well. It was a Friday in which we tried several things, especially in terms of electronics to try and improve the engine character, and I'm happy because we have taken a step forward. I’m not yet completely comfortable, but I felt pretty good and it seems that the direction we have taken is the right one.”
Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo came to Mugello full of confidence following his comprehensive victories at Jerez and Le Mans, and straight away, he looked fast and smooth around the 5.2km circuit. The Spaniard, who has not finished outside the top two in the last 6 races at Mugello, set the third fastest time of the day, just 0.373s off the top, although he feels there is room for improvement: “I‘m not completely satisfied with the way the bike is working. Concerning the setting of my YZR-M1, I think we have a big margin for improvement. Little by little we are going to make progress in most of the corners, but to begin the weekend with second and third place and a good pace is a nice start.”
Andrea Iannone ended the day in fourth overall, but admitted he had struggled to ride with his fractured arm that he injured in the Ducati Team’s private test at the circuit: “It’s not so much a question of pain, it’s more that I need too much strength, which in this moment I simply don’t have. I am not able to move my left shoulder the way I want to and so I’m losing a lot in the changes in direction, and there are a lot of them here at Mugello.”
It was a good day for British riders as Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Bradley Smith ended the day in fifth as the leading Satellite rider, managing to finish just ahead of his compatriot Cal Crutchlow on the CWM LCR Honda, with less than a tenth of a second separating the two. Smith was content with his pace, but knows he will have to step it up a gear tomorrow: “Overall, we’re less than two tenths back from the factory Yamaha of Lorenzo, so we are in a good place, but tomorrow we need to make another step forward to get into the 1’47 lap times.”
Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS’s Scott Redding showed signs of improvement as he finished in eighth overall, just behind the injured Aleix Espargaro on the Team Suzuki Ecstar GSX-RR in seventh. Espargaro underwent surgery on his right thumb to repair a damaged ligament after Le Mans and he was finding it hard to get enough brake pressure through his injured hand, with his team saying they will assess his injury session by session.
It was another hard first day of Free Practice for the current MotoGP™ World Championship leader Valentino Rossi, who found himself down in ninth place on the combined timesheets. Once again, the Italian struggled during the Friday of a Grand Prix weekend, emphasising his woes by running off track late on in FP2 as he pushed too hard: “I had some problems under braking. We tried to modify the setting so I could brake harder, but we didn‘t find a good solution and at the end I came back out on my normal bike and decided to try the harder tyre on the front and rear. The front wasn‘t so bad, but the rear was a bit too hard and I didn‘t have enough grip on the left side for me to push to the maximum.”
Pol Espargaro completed the top ten on the second Monster Yamaha Tech 3 M1, with Avintia Racing’s Hector Barbera finishing as the top Open class rider in 16th.
