Danilo Petrucci was worried he wouldn't be able to race in this weekend's Malaysian MotoGP, following his dramatic early-race exit at Phillip Island on Sunday.
Andrea Dovizioso heads to his favourite circuit of Sepang in Malaysia his weekend, already confirmed as MotoGP title runner-up for the third successive season.
This (below) is the huge highside that took both Danilo Petrucci and Fabio Quartararo out of Sunday's Australian MotoGP. The pair were among several riders to lose the rear on entry to Turn 2 at the start of the Phillip Island race.
After having a front row seat to Marc Marquez’s latest wonder save, Danilo Petrucci gave his account of the incident while he was almost as equally impressed by his pace during the special session at Phillip Island.
Andrea Dovizioso is bracing for “the most challenging circuit” for Ducati of the triple-header at Phillip Island and despite losing out on the MotoGP world title he feels he can’t ease off in the fight for second place in the standings.
With Marc Marquez winning the 2019 MotoGP title last time in Thailand, Ducati team-mates Andrea Dovizioso and Danilo Petrucci now have their focus firmly set on finishing as 'best of the rest' in the world championship.
Danilo Petrucci was among the many riders to offer his congratulations to Marc Marquez on clinching the 2019 MotoGP title in Thailand on Sunday. Marquez has dominated the season with nine wins from 15 races to seal his eighth world championship with four rounds still to go.
After a short break following the Aragon round, MotoGP begins the flyaway races in Asia starting with in Thailand where Marc Marquez has his first opportunity to seal the 2019 world title.
Returning to the podium with a runner-up finish - from tenth on the grid - last time at Aragon means Andrea Dovizioso approaches Buriram and the start of the flyaway MotoGP races with greater confidence.
Andrea Dovizioso feels Ducati can respond from its Misano disappointment at Aragon this weekend despite still battling tyre issues, while team-mate Danilo Petrucci fears he faces familiar problems this weekend.
After a tough time the San Marino Grand Prix, Andrea Dovizioso isn't sure what to expect from this weekend's Aragon round. The Ducati rider won his home Misano race last year, but could only salvage sixth from Sunday's race.
Danilo Petrucci feels confident he has rediscovered his front-running feeling with Ducati at the recent Misano test after enduring a poor run of results since the summer break.
Diagnosed with concussion and multiple contusions after Sunday's big accident at the British MotoGP (pictured), Andrea Dovizioso was nonetheless back on track for this week's Misano test.
Danilo Petrucci has held up his hands over his poor run of form since the MotoGP summer break and with his third place in the standings under threat the Ducati rider is eager to turnaround his fortunes at Silverstone.
Ducati will supply four factory-specification bikes for the first time in its MotoGP history, which sporting director Paolo Ciabatti hopes will provide key competition between its riders alongside increased development.
Danilo Petrucci says he wants to hit the reset button following a frustrating pair of races after the summer break which has seen him slip off the pace of Ducati team-mate Andrea Dovizioso.
For Ducati to have a glimmer of hope of applying title pressure on Marc Marquez, they realistically need a repeat last year's defeat of the Honda rider in the next two MotoGP rounds at Brno and Red Bull Ring.
Assen and especially Sachsenring, where Honda's MotoGP champion Marc Marquez has now won for ten seasons in a row, were always expected to be problem circuits for Ducati.
Marc Marquez holds a 58-point lead in the MotoGP riders’ standings following his dominant victory at Sachsenring heading into the summer break and also tops the Rider Ratings averages with an impressive score of 8.77.
Jack Miller took 'a bit of gamble' by fitting the soft rear tyre for Sunday's German MotoGP and, while it 'didn't really work out', the Australian moved to the top of the Independent standings heading into the summer break.
With the factory Ducati trio covered by just 0.259s at the end of the German MotoGP, Danilo Petrucci feels the evidence is clear that they had reached the limit of the bike.