German Grand Prix
Sachsenring Circuit, Germany
Friday 14 July 2006 - Free Practice
 POSITIVE
RETURN FOR ALEX HOFMANN ON HIS HOME TRACK, CARDOSO IS CONFIDENT
TOO
However the weather conditions were quite unstable today,
both the sessions of free practice have been on dry track.
The atmosphere at the Sachsenring Circuit is always particular
and there already was thousands of fans to follow the riders
on track today. ALEX HOFMANN is racing at home, this can be
seen by the determination with which he faced these first
practice sessions. The German rider, willing to make a good
result in front of his public, classified himself in 16th
position, while his teammate, JOSE LUIS CARDOSO, is 18th.
All the data is being studied now, to get ready for the second
day of practice and define the best set-up for Sunday’s
race.
ALEX HOFMANN #66 (16th - 1’25.092):
“I’m happy to “race at home”, because
it’s my national GP and also because I’m back
with my Team. Obviously, it’s always quite difficult
to get back with your rhythm immediately but I’m confident.
The tyres have improved, I can stay longer with the other
riders and I’m having more fun. Tomorrow, we will try
some modifications and I hope to improve my feeling to ride
in a better way and lower my best laptime. In some corners
of the track, we already found a good balance of the motorcycle
and in other ones, we still need to find the best set-up especially
on the front. We will analyze all the data to go on improving
more and more”.
JOSE LUIS CARDOSO #30 (18th - 1’25.707): “I
like this track. There are some modifications to make on the
bike for tomorrow but, generally, things are operating quite
good. I will make the maximum tomorrow, I want to improve
myself and I’m confident because I have a good feeling
on the motorcycle. The only pity is to have crashed in the
last lap, my mechanics will have to work a lot to get my bike
ready for tomorrow, I’m really sorry about it”.
EMANUELE MARTINELLI - Track Engineer of Alex Hofmann:
“I could say that, after all, today’s
practice is to be considered quite positive. HOFMANN, after
his experience in the Official DUCATI Team, has to get back
his feeling with the DESMOSEDICI GP06 “Sat.” and
the DUNLOP tyres. From the last races, our distance from the
first riders is lower. There have been less difficulties with
the tyres, DUNLOP has made a small step ahead. We know where
we need to concentrate our work tomorrow: in the last part
of the track, HOFMANN needs more feeling with the front and
we need to work on the suspensions. It will be useful to study
all the data we collected today, to find valid solutions and
improve ourselves during the last practice sessions. Anyway,
the whole Team has been working very good and I’m confident
for tomorrow”.
1. Marco Melandri 1’23.145
2. Daniel Pedrosa 1’23.486
3. Loris Capirossi 1’23.490
4. Nicky Hayden 1’23.525
5. Kenny Roberts Jr. 1’23.676
16. Alex Hofmann 1’25.092
18. Jose Luis Cardoso 1’25.707
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