Andrea Dovizioso ends the first day of free practices of the European Grand Prix in Valencia with the eighth time. Petrucci closes in eighteenth position following a crash

The first day of free practices of the European Grand Prix, scheduled this weekend at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Cheste near Valencia (Spain), was characterised by uncertain weather and mixed track conditions. After the first session of FP1 held this morning in wet conditions, the asphalt began to dry progressively before FP2, allowing the MotoGP riders to return to the track in the afternoon by mounting slick tyres.

Ninth after the first session this morning, Andrea Dovizioso closed Day 1 with the eighth time overall, stopping the clock at 1:33.292 in FP2 and closing at 764 thousandths from the best time set by Jack Miller on the Ducati Desmosedici GP bike of the Pramac Racing team.

Danilo Petrucci, sixth after this morning's FP1 in the wet, closed instead his first day only in eighteenth place. Although he was proving to be fast even in the semi-dry track conditions, the rider from Terni fell victim of a slide at four minutes from the end of FP2, while he was improving his lap time, ending the session in eighteenth place in 1:33.775.

Andrea Dovizioso (#04 Ducati Team) - 1:33.292 (8th)
"Today, it was crucial to finish in the top ten, as there is a chance that it will rain tomorrow. Unfortunately, it wasn't a linear day: the mixed conditions of the track, not extremely wet this morning and not completely dry this afternoon, did not allow us to significantly tests ahead of Sunday's race. We hope that the weather will improve for tomorrow."

Danilo Petrucci (#9 Ducati Team) - 1:33.775 (18th)
"We were fast in both sessions on this first day. Unfortunately, in FP2, I crashed, and although I was able to return to the pit garage, I couldn't get back on track for the last minutes of the session. Now let's hope that the weather holds up for tomorrow morning. If the track is dry, I can try to improve my lap time in FP3 and aim to finish within the top ten”.

The Ducati Team riders will be back on track tomorrow at 10:55 am local time (GMT +1.00) for the FP3 session, before facing the European GP qualifying in the afternoon, starting at 2:50 pm, at the end of FP4.