U.S. Grand Prix
Circuit of Laguna Seca, United States
Saturday 22 July 2006 - Qualifying Practice
HIGH TEMPERATURES DISTURBED THE QUALIFYING SESSION
OF PRAMAC D’ANTIN MOTOGP
 Very
hot weather today on the track of Laguna Seca in California.
The ground temperature almost reached 60°c and made it
nearly impossible to further improve the laptimes. The two
riders of the Team PRAMAC D’ANTIN MOTOGP suffered these
conditions a lot and didn’t managed to repeat the laptimes
they obtained in the morning with the DUCATI DESMOSEDICI GP06
“Sat.”. The German rider ALEX HOFMANN classified
himself in 17th position while his Team mate, the Spanish
rider JOSE LUIS CARDOSO, is 19th.
The whole Team is hoping for a race under lower temperatures,
to express itself at the maximum. The start will be at 2 p.m.
(GMT-7).
ALEX HOFMANN #66 (17th - 1’25.420): “Unfortunately,
when things are going better, something always happens. In
the afternoon, the temperatures really were crazy. It wasn’t
possible to replicate the laptimes done in the morning as
the grip wasn’t the same anymore. A real pity because
we could have made improvements. I also lose some time at
mid-session when my motorcycle stopped and I had to go back
to the pit-box, running with my leather suit and my helmet
on. Anyway, the situation was difficult for everybody and
if the race will be in these conditions it will be very hard.
I hope that tomorrow will be a fresher day, I would like to
make a good race”.
JOSE LUIS CARDOSO #30 (19th - 1’26.567): “This
morning, we improved from yesterday and I was optimistic.
Unluckily, the weather conditions changed in the afternoon,
the temperature became too high and it was very difficult
to make again the laptimes of the morning. For tomorrow, we
hope that it will lower a little bit, I would like to get
some more points for the general classification”.
EMANUELE MARTINELLI - Track Engineer of Alex Hofmann:
“Yesterday and this morning, we managed to
work quite good on the set-up of the motorcycle. Unfortunately,
this afternoon, the temperature increased very much ; it was
impossible to ride on the same laptimes and even more to improve
anything. Besides, in these nearly off-limit conditions, an
electronical problem actually being checked switched HOFMANN’s
motorcycle off at mid-session, making us lose some precious
time. We’re moderately satisfied about the race tires,
while there is still a lot of work to do on the qualifying
tires. Tomorrow, we hope that it won’t be that hot during
the race”.
1. Chris Vermeulen 1’23.168
2. Colin Edwards 1’23.321
3. Kenny Roberts Jr. 1’23.420
4. Daniel Pedrosa 1’23.490
5. John Hopkins 1’23.498
17. Alex Hofmann 1’25.420
19. Jose Luis Cardoso 1’26.567
Conditions: Dry / Aria: 38°c / Ground: 58°c / Humidity:
10%
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