Triumphant in the Qatar season opener, Andrea Dovizioso sunk to a shock 24th and last during Friday afternoon practice for the Argen🍒tina MotoGP.

The Italian's quicker morning time was still only good enough for 15th overall as Ducati's trio of factory-backed ridꩲers were left 14th, 15th and 16th on the combined timesheets.

"For sure I didn't enjoy to ride the bike in second practice," said Dovizioso. "I had to close the throttle in turn four, in the straight, in acceleration beca🍰use the bike was moving, so it was scary."

The problem, in a nutshell, was s⭕imply a lack of♕ grip.

"Unfortunately it's similar to the past! This confirms that this ki♔nd of track is more difficult for us, compared to other tracks," said Dovizioso.

The low grip nature of🌟 the rarely-used Termas de Rio Hondo asphalt is compounded by the need for har🥀d tyres to withstand wheelspin through the long corners.

"The track was dirty at the beginning, which is normal," said the Italian. "But I think 💙it will not change too much, also because the tyre we have to use is very hard.

"There is a lot of spin and slide here because of the layout of the track and they have to bring hard ty🦩res. So just from the tyres it's difficult to find the grip."

The 2017 title runner-up added: "Every tyre you use, there is no grip and almost no difference. The differe🌱nce is just a little bit the warm-up of the tyres, some ar🍸e better or worse.

"But we can't find the grip to be faster [by changingℱ the tyres] so we need to find iꦜn a different way."

Dovizioso was quick to st⛄ate that part of the much-needed progress can come from him, while he hopes rain will stay away long enough to get at least one more dry session.

"For sure there is also one part from my side, I didn't ride the bike in a perfect way and I didn't have a normal feeling tﷺo push and make a good lap time.

"This is not an excuse, it’s the reality and we ꦯneed to ✤work, like in the past when we did almost second place [Argentina 2016] we didn't start competitive.

"I hopeꦡ to have a minimum of one dry session tomorrow to work on that."

Like most riders Dovizioso praised the partial resurfacing for removing bumps, but felt the grip of the new asphalt was actually lower.🐲 However, "I never feel a normal grip in Argentina."

On the other side of the Ducati garage, team-mate Jorge Lorenzo felt wind was a factor in the GP18s being ranked behind all three of the older 2🥂017 Ducatis.

"I think the conditions today, esp🦹ecially the wind multiply the weak points ofꦐ the bike, that is the front wheel is a little bit less in contact than the old one.

"For example🤪 in the fast corner before the long s൲traight, I lose half a second in that corner because I couldn't open full throttle, because I couldn't feel safe enough to do it. And in the rest of the track, I also didn't feel great. Very strange conditions, special conditions."

Unlike the GP18s, ♑the GP17s are running last year's wing fairi🍎ng, putting added load on the front tyre.

Why the GP18s are not at least trying the latest version of that wing fairing, seen in testing, is still unclear (assumin꧟g it was homologated in full wing form).

Asked if he intends to evaluate the downforce fairing, which he favꦫoured so much last season, Lorenzo hinted at some sort of issue preventing its use:

"No. Let's see what we can do for tomorrow or the next tracks. But it's ⛦a complex thing at this moment."

Changing♋ subject, Lorenzo refused to be drawn further on an interview to be broadcast by Spanish TV on Sunday, in which he appears to 🐽criticise Dovizioso (it is thought Lorenzo is asked to respond to something the Italian has said).

"Now we are in race mode and maybe𓂃 next Thursday we will speak about that," Lorenzo said of the interview. "Now, we must concentrate on race questions, and you can see the interview. I never lie, always say what I think, and what I think is the truth."

Quickest of 💜the GP18s on Friday was Pramac's Danilo Petrucci, in 14th overa📖ll and 1.468s from Honda's Marc Marquez.

"We already knew♔ this morning the feeling was not the same as Qatar, Thailand or Sepang,"ไ said the Italian.

"This♎ afternoon the situation got worse because we started to try something different. We [also] started to try different tyres on the rear - I put the soft one but it didn’t work.

"It seems there is n🌼o grip for us on the track and we struggle a lot to let the ty🐠re work on our bike. After ten laps our tyre seems to be new.

"It's ve෴ry very strange because the feeling is that the bike is not predictable lap-by-lap, which means you cannot push as much as possible or give advice for the set-up."

While the GP18s are staring down the barrel of Qualifying 1, unless they can break into th👍e top ten on Saturday morning, Avintia's Tito Rabat was a surprise fourth overall to head the Ducati challenge on last year's GP1🐷7.

"We had a great first day," said the Spaniard. "We found a strong pace and also put in a fast lap time. In the first practice session, the track was a little dirty, but this afternoo✅n, the condit🍌ions were almost perfect for me. Every day I feel better with the Ducati and with my team.

"Now we have to focus on qualifying tomorrow, because I want to improv🐬e further and get a good position on the grid f♉or Sunday’s race. We mainly have to work on tyre life and we will also try to go a little faster."

Pramac's Jack Mi൲ller was tenth and Aspar's Alvaro Bautista eleventh.