The Ducati Team gears up for the British Grand Prix at the Silverstone circuit
After Andrea Dovizioso’s spectacular victory ten days ago in Austria at the Red Bull Ring, the Ducati Team has now arrived in the United Kingdom for one of the traditional events on the MotoGP calendar, the British Grand Prix. The Silverstone circuit will once again be the venue for the final appointment in the month of August for the MotoGP teams – round 12 of 19 – and because of the cancellation of the race twelve months ago, Andrea Dovizioso is actually the rider who scored the last race win in England in 2017 on his Ducati.
With his Austrian GP win, the rider from Forlí has now reached 172 points in the standings, 58 behind leader Marc Márquez. Danilo Petrucci on the other hand arrives at Silverstone with the aim of defending his third place in the classification: the rider from Terni, with 136 points to his name, maintains a lead of 12 over Alex Rins, in fourth place. Petrucci returns to the circuit where he scored his first podium in MotoGP – a second place in 2015 – on the Desmosedici GP of the Pramac Racing Team.
In the Constructors’ standings Ducati still lies in second place with 202 points, 34 behind Honda, while the Italian squad leads the special Teams’ classification with 308 points.
Andrea Dovizioso (#04 Ducati Team) – 2nd (172 points)
“Nothing gives you more satisfaction and confidence than a victory, and so we come to Silverstone with our moral sky-high. Our result at the Red Bull Ring didn’t come about by chance, because we worked really well over the two successive race weekends and the results proved us to be right. Even though the characteristics of the British track are not as favourable to us as Brno and Zeltweg, we have already shown that we can also be quick at Silverstone, like in 2017 when we won the race. As always, the weather will play an important part and we have to be ready to adapt to any circumstances.”
Danilo Petrucci (#9 Ducati Team) – 3rd (136 points)
“For sure the last two races have been my worst ones of the year and so now the aim is to turn a new page as soon as possible, and start to demonstrate at Silverstone that we deserve our third place in the championship. I’ve got some good memories of this circuit, especially for the podium in 2015, and I think that if we stay focussed right from the first session we can be competitive. There’s going to be a lot of competition and the variable weather here in England is always a factor to take into consideration, and it can condition the race. However, I’m determined to score a good result.”
The Ducati Team will take to the Silverstone track on Friday 23 August at 09.55 (10.55 CET) for the first free practice session. The race is scheduled for Sunday 25 August at 13.00 local time (14.00 CET), over a distance of 20 laps.