Le Mans has never been a very satisfying track for Ducati, which has had a dry spell of wins at the Bugatti. But things improved last year with Petrucci taking second place and Dovizioso who didn’t finish the race due to a fall, but when he was still in command.

The Desmosedici needs to reconfirm itself quickly in France if it doesn't want Marquez to race ahead. Dovi is only three points behind the Spanish rider and, at this time of the season, they're playing it out point-by-point.



"Le Mans is a track where we should theoretically be more competitive than in Jerez, although the race didn’t go as we would have liked it to last year," Andrea remembered. "Weather conditions always play an important role in France, and it’ll be essential to manage this variable as best we can."

The rider from Forlì is right, since the weather changes from day to day and, as of now, it seems like the rain will be joining the riders on the track this weekend.

"In any case, I expect many fast opponents, so it'll be essential to start off on the right foot from the first practice session, in order to prepare ourselves in the best was possible for the race," continued Dovizioso. "The Desmosedici GP has some features we can take advantage of in our favor, but we still have to fix some details to maximize our potential and play our cards better on Sunday when the points are awarded. I'm confident that we'll have a good race."

DANILO PETRUCCI: "I HAVE TO PUT ALL THE PIECES TOGETHER TO REACH THE PODIUM."

That's what Petrucci hopes for too, since he hasn't yet gotten what he expected with his team. For the rider from Terni, it's time to make changes in the season and start aiming for the podium. The French GP seems to arrive at the right time for him.

"Le Mans is one of my favorite tracks. It has lots of braking and restarting, which suits the characteristics of my Desmosedici GP, so much so that in France last year I probably had my best race, winning second place." A good starting point.

"Our goal for this weekend is the podium, which I think is realistically within our reach," Danilo confirmed. "We got close in Jerez, but we'll first have to be faster in qualifying to stay in the leading group from the start. It's never easy to put together all the pieces of the puzzle at this level, but we have what we need to be competitive and take another step forward at Le Mans."