8th and 10th in qualifying for Ducati Team at Laguna Seca

The Italian is convinced that the updated version of the Desmosedici GP13 frame is a step forward, although he recognized that making a charge up the field from eighth place will be difficult. Hayden hasn’t yet managed to find a solution to the understeer problem, but he’ll try some setup changes in the morning warm-up.

Andrea Dovizioso - Ducati Team, 8th (1:22.026)

“Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to do a lap with all good splits, or I could’ve done a bit better and gone under 1:22. It’s been kind of a strange weekend in the sense that we’ve been faster than on other weekends and a bit closer to the others, but if we look at the pace of all the riders that are in front of us, they’re pretty far ahead and we don’t have much chance of gaining many positions. Anyway, the only thing to do is to concentrate on our rhythm and try to be consistent. The goal is to do the whole race at a pace under 1:23, which would be good for us. It’ll be hard tomorrow, but as always, we’ll do our best.”

Nicky Hayden - Ducati Team, 10th (1:22.090)
“It hasn’t been an easy weekend for me so far. We went backward a bit in FP4, and my lap in qualifying wasn’t that great. I’ve been struggling all weekend, with a lack of grip and especially with the bike running wide over bumps. Really, my time wasn’t so bad, but we missed a little bit to maybe move up a couple of positions. It hasn’t been the weekend I hoped for so far, but it’s a long way from over, so we’ll see what we come up with for tomorrow.”

Ducati Team