FREE PRACTICE SESSION FOR THE MOTOGP RIDERS IN BRNO
The Pramac d’Antin team began its preparations for
Sunday’s Czech Republic GP in Brno today as the MotoGP
World Championship resumed action after the summer break.
The team is defending its colours this weekend with lead
rider Alex Barros and Spanish reserve rider Ivan Silva, who
is replacing the injured Alex Hofmann. Today’s work
was focussed on setting up the Ducati Desmosedici with the
Bridgestone tyres around the technically demanding Brno track
in advance of Sunday’s 22-lap race in which the Italo-Spanish
team is determined to recover some points missed in the previous
races.
Alex Barros (1’59.738 – 18 laps): “After
the summer break, we started to work again today and I can
finally say that I have completely recovered from my hand
injury. This morning we started convinced to obtain a good
lap time but we met some difficulties with grip levels. It
is nothing particularly worrying, since we are still only
at the first day and we have time and determination to recover.
Already in the afternoon, during the second free practice
session, I was able to improve my race pace and lower my lap
time; this means that we are heading in the right direction
and we must continue in this way. Today we focussed mainly
on bike set-up and tomorrow we will look at testing and choosing
our Bridgestone race tyres.”
Ivan Silva (2’01.854 – 20 laps):
“I have already run at this track in MotoGP when I substituted
for Alex Hofmann at Pramac d’Antin last year, but the
bike was different, so I needed some time today to find the
right feeling with the Desmosedici. Anyway I’m quite
confident because during the afternoon practice, also thanks
to the advice of my mechanics, I was able to lower my lap
time by two seconds. I want to achieve a good lap time and
tomorrow I hope to be faster. Above all, my aim is simply
not to finish in last position on the classification.”
Official Time:
1° Sylvain Guintoli: 1’58.362
2° Casey Stoner: 1’58.568
3° John Hopkins: 1’58.868
4° Loris Capirossi: 1’58.969
5° Randy de Puniet: 1’59.064
11° Alex Barros: 1’59.738
18° Ivan Silva: 2’01.854
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