Andrea Dovizioso believes the scorching weather conditions expected for the remainder of the MotoGP Aragon Grand Prix will only be “positive” for Ducati.
Track temperatures were already 10 degrees warmer than in 2017 for FP1, while they rose to 43 degrees for the second 45-minute session on Friday.
Dovizioso topped the morning outing by 0.190s, and was just under half a second off of Marc Marquez's best pace in FP2 in third.
The Italian claims the feeling he had with his GP18 on Friday mirrored that of the test at Aragon directly after the British Grand Prix weekend, and believes the hot conditions will “affect” Ducati in a “positive way” going forward.
“We start with the same feeling as the test, this is very important because now we can work on the detail tomorrow to improve the speed with the used tyre, because the key is always to be fast and not use the tyre,” he told motogp.com
“This is very difficult, but it's the way to try to win the race with Michelin. So the speed is there, I'm really happy.
“At the moment we are three with a similar pace, but there is a lot of work to do. Tomorrow, the weather looks good, so there is time to work on the bike and to be a little bit better in a few areas.
“Overall, the feeling is good. I think [the heat] affect a lot, and maybe in a positive way for the Ducati riders. The afternoon is a bit better for us, maybe, so for the race it's positive.”
Lorenzo: Marquez time attack doesn't suggest he is worried
Friday pacesetter Marquez made the unusual move in carrying out a qualifying simulation towards the end of FP2, during which he managed a 1:47.382s to go 0.138s clear of Jorge Lorenzo.
Typically, the Honda rider spends the entirety of Friday working on race set-up, with some suggesting Marquez – who has won for the last two years at Aragon – is worried about the pace of the Ducatis.
However, Lorenzo does not see anything untoward in Marquez doing a time attack on Friday, and believes his “strategy” will allow him to focus more on race pace in FP3 without worrying about securing a place in Q2.
“This morning he was one of the only ones who keep going with the same tyres front and rear until the last lap, so he have more tyres than the rest to put in at the end of the session,” Lorenzo said.
“And probably the laptimes from Marc and myself could be enough to be in the Q2 without putting in new tyres tomorrow morning.
“So probably this is a good strategy, because we can concentrate more on the race pace.”
