After the heavy crash suffered yesterday by Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team) which ruled him out of the rest of the GP TIM di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini, Ducati replaced him with compatriot Michele Pirro on the factory Desmosedici on Saturday and it proved to be a wise move.
Pirro registered the fifth best time in Q2 to qualify just behind Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) on the grid, after making it through as the fastest rider in Q1.
Pirro stopped the clock at 1'32.467 in Q2, just a few thousandths of a second behind Marquez and will start Sunday’s race from the second row of the starting grid for the first time this season.
Michele Pirro: “It was a good qualifying for me but I feel bad for Andrea (Iannone) because yesterday he had a very heavy crash and today there was no way he could ride. This morning Ducati decided I would replace Andrea and I changed box, but the bike is very similar to what I had. Today I worked to improve the lap time, because yesterday the times were not very good. The feeling with the bike is now very good and tomorrow will try do our best.”