Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso was classified thirteenth after the opening free practice sessions for the French GP held on Friday at the Le Mans Bugatti circuit.
Dovizioso had an excellent afternoon session, which was held in pouring rain, and he topped the timesheets with a lap of 1'41.673.
In the morning however, the Italian rider did not fit slick tyres towards the end of the FP1, when the track was drying out, so he remains outside the top 10, for now.
“I'm pleased to have finished FP2 in first place, and just as well I brought the bike back to the box all in one piece because I almost crashed on the last laps!” he said. “I was pushing hard because I knew that a time of 1'41.3 would have been enough to get into the top 10, and I tried right until the end, but I exaggerated a bit and lost the front under braking at the final corner.”
“Apart from that, today the conditions were rather difficult but the track grip is good. Our Ducati goes well in the wet and we tackled the two sessions calmly: the feeling improved lap after lap and I set some good times. I'm satisfied with my FP2 but hopefully the track will be dry tomorrow.”
