Having been top of FP3 in mixed conditions, the Ducati of Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) Will line up seventh on the grid for the PTT Thailand Grand Prix. With the championship on the line, ‘DesmoDovi’ will need to put in one of his most determined rides of his career, to keep the championship from being wrapped up on Thai soil.
It was a tricky qualifying session for everyone, with the threat of rain and numerous yellow flags for various crashes around the track. Therefore, it was hard to get one clean, fast lap in order to get further up the grid. Dovizioso set eight laps during his qualifying session, with the best one coming on the final lap. The 33-year-old Italian, who has been second in the Championship for the past two seasons, must finish ahead of Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team), or lose no more than two points to the Spaniard in order to keep his title chances alive.
Speaking after his seventh place on the grid, Dovi stated: “Our target was the second row. I was able to get it. I didn’t make a perfect sector three and I was OK bit in sector four. I don’t think it is too bad, the pace is quite good. Not fast like Marc and Maverick but not that far.
“You know when you make this kind of race with this heat and with these straights, everything can happen. For sure you need a good start and after, make a good strategy.”
Dovizioso has mounted the podium from the third or row or further back some 18 times in his MotoGP™ career, of which nine of those have come from seventh on the grid. At the last race at MotorLand Aragon, ‘Dovi’ came from tenth on the grid to second in a phenomenal late race charge, and he will have to do something similar in Thailand if he is to keep the title fight alive.