Dovizioso fast out of the box, Petrucci poised

Andrea Dovizioso says he is ‘satisfied’ with his start to the Catalunya MotoGP after going second quickest in free practice as he looks to get back to winning ways for Ducati.

Following a trying Friday and Saturday in Mugello, which nonetheless concluded with a run to the podium anyway, Dovizioso enjoyed a more straightforward start to the Catalunya weekend with the second quickest time behind Fabio Quartararo.

Pointing out the changes in temperature in Spain this weekend is making tyre management – an area of strength for Dovizioso – critical, he is positive heading into qualifying.

"I'm satisfied with our performance in this first day of practice, I had a good feeling with the bike and we've been fast.

“As it often happened here in the past, grip is very low and the track's layout makes tyre management particularly difficult, especially considering the higher temperatures forecast for the rest of the weekend.

“However, I believe everyone is struggling under this aspect. We have work left to do ahead of the race: we're still evaluating the different tyre compounds available and we need to improve the front-end feeling, but my sensations are good and so are the lap times, so I'm confident."

Winner last time out in Mugello, Danilo Petrucci endured a low-key start to his Catalunya MotoGP down in eighth place in FP2.

“My feeling on the bike is quite good, even though this morning we encountered an atypical issue with rear grip, which slowed our program down a little bit. In FP2 we made a big step forward, even though there is still room for improvement.

“We're not far from the front in terms of pace, while we're still not at our best on the flying lap because I struggle in corner entry as I feel little support from the rear. We have clear ideas about what changes to make on the bike and we defined our work program for tomorrow, so I'm optimistic."