---
title: "Dovizioso ‘amongst quickest riders’ despite ending FP1 11th"
canonical: "https://readmotorsport.com/2017/03/23/dovizioso-amongst-quickest-riders-despite-ending-fp1-11th/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Lewis Duncan"
section: "MotoGP News"
published: "2017-03-23T21:52:42Z"
modified: "2017-03-23T21:53:19Z"
---

# Dovizioso ‘amongst quickest riders’ despite ending FP1 11th

Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso feels he is one of the quickest riders in the field in Qatar despite finishing Thursday’s first practice down in a lowly 11th.

The Italian rider has regularly been the top Desmosedici runner throughout the pre-season, and has also typically gone well at the Losail International Circuit in the past.

![Mirco Lazzari gp/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readmotorsport.com/readmotorsport/2017/03/652586732.jpg)

Dovizioso spent much of the 45-minute session running the harder tyre, and his pace proved to be encouraging despite encountering tricky track conditions.

The Ducati rider was lapping in the high 1m55s in the early stages, which was not far off what pacesetter Maverick Vinales was doing on the Yamaha. Happy with this, he decided against switching to a softer tyre at the end.

“Today, as expected, the track conditions were not at their best, with wind and dirt during the only weekend session that will probably be dry before the race,” he said.

“At the start of the session, I set a good time, and so I didn’t want to fit a soft tyre at the end because I thought I could stay in amongst the top 10.”

![Mirco Lazzari gp/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readmotorsport.com/readmotorsport/2017/03/652586684.jpg)

With rain on the horizon for tomorrow, many riders went out in the final few minutes to do a flying lap in order to bag a provisional place in the second part of qualifying.

The times tumbled, and Dovizioso was soon shuffled from the top three down to 11th having failed to improve on his best effort of 1m55.873s set earlier in the session. Frustratingly, the Italian missed out on 10th by just 0.001s.

Despite this, Dovizioso is keeping his head held high as he is convinced his pace is good enough to be at the front of the pack.

“I missed out (on the top 10) by a fraction. It was my mistake, and a pity because when I was using the same tyre as the others I was third, and so I know I am amongst the quickest riders.”