Andrea Dovizioso headed the field at the end of the first day of free practice for the Thailand Grand Prix at the Buriram circuit in the noth-east of the country. The Ducati Team’s Italian rider, third this morning, set the quickest time of the day in the last few minutes of FP2, lapping in 1’31.090.

Jorge Lorenzo, whose right foot was still in pain this morning when he took to the track for the first time following his Aragón crash, finished FP1 in seventeenth place but unfortunately crashed out again with a high side at Turn 3 during his second run. Jorge was immediately taken to the circuit medical centre where he was diagnosed with having abrasions to his right forearm and bruises to his left wrist and the right foot he already injured in Spain.

The Mallorcan rider then went to the local hospital to have further checks on his left wrist, but was in any case declared fit for tomorrow by the organizers’ medical staff.


Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) - 1st (1’31.090)

“Today it went quite well. This morning the track conditions weren’t easy and we were struggling a bit, but in the afternoon we were able to make a step forward and my feeling improved. It’s still not enough because Marquez, and not only him, has an excellent pace and there are quite a few riders with good speed. We are all very close on lap times and so there’s still a lot of work to do. Let’s see what track conditions we will find tomorrow but, as I said, even though the feeling is a good one we still have to improve.”

Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team #99) - 16th (1’32.027)

“It was another tough day for me. I was surprised by the fact that the rear wheel went away suddenly and I crashed so violently after a high side. Luckily, and this is the most important thing, the checks confirmed that I’ve got nothing broken, but just a bruised left wrist and right ankle. I’ve been told that the cause was a technical problem that the team are still looking into, and tomorrow morning as soon as I get up I’ll see if I can race or not. I want to see how the night goes before taking the best decision.”