Danilo Petrucci will start the Shell Malaysia Grand Prix, which takes place tomorrow at the Sepang International Circuit, from the third row of the grid. This morning the rider from Terni, Italy had failed to get into the top 10 at the end of FP3 and had to take part in the Q1 session in the early afternoon, where he finished second. Petrucci then set a time of 1’59.097 on the last lap of his second run in Q2 to finish the session in eighth place.

It will be a row 4 start instead for Andrea Dovizioso, who finished the combined free practice sessions in fifth place, a result that took him directly into Q2 where he was only able to obtain the tenth quickest time in 1’59.173.


Danilo Petrucci (#9 Ducati Team) – 1’59.097 (8th)

“I’m pleased to be able to start from the third row, because after all the difficulties I had this morning we did a good job and we were able to resolve some of my problems. Tomorrow the race will certainly be very difficult, especially because of the heat, and with the high temperatures tyre management will be rather complicated. Let’s see what the weather will be like tomorrow, and even though I don’t think I have the race pace to fight for the win, as always it’ll be maximum commitment on my part to bring home a good result”.

Andrea Dovizioso (#04 Ducati Team) – 1’59.173 (10th)

“It’s a real pity having to start from tenth, because today we were able to make a further improvement to my race pace and so a good starting position would have been really important. Unfortunately, in qualifying my feeling with the bike wasn’t optimal and so I just wasn’t able to be quick enough. In any case here the straight is very long and with a good start, we can make up a lot of positions at the start of the race”.

Tomorrow, Sunday 3rd November, after the warm-up at 09.40 local time (02.40 CET), the MotoGP riders will line up on the grid at 15.00 (08.00 CET) for the 20-lap Shell Malaysia Grand Prix.