Grand Prix of San Marino
Free Practice
The thirteenth race of the MotoGP World Championships takes
place with a second visit to Italy, at the circuit of Misano,
along the beautiful Adriatic coastline. The circuit has not
been raced at by the World Championship since 1993, when multiple
time World Champion, Wayne Rainey, was severely injured during
that year’s race.
The first free practice of the morning saw the Pramac Dántin
riders on rain tires, and due to both the inclement weather
and their lack of experience at this circuit, they were not
able to determine much about the track, which is being run
in the opposite direction as normal. The remaining two free
practice sessions were subsequently cancelled by race direction
after a torrential downpour wreaked havoc on the circuit grounds,
causing electrical black-outs and flooding areas of the track
and the paddock garages. The Pramac Dántin garage was
completely over-run during the massive deluge, and the afternoon
was spent drying out as much equipment as possible and rebuilding
when items weren’t salvageable. Tomorrow, an extra hour
has been added to the morning free practice, and the riders
will use the two hour session to prepare for that afternoon’s
Qualifying session, and moreso, to ready the bike and themselves
for the race on Sunday!
Alex Barros (18 laps. 1´51.07). “Due
to the rain we were not able to obtain a lot of information
about the reverse circuit, or which way to go in order to
get the bike set-up for Sunday’s race, which should
be dry. Because I had ridden the track last year, I was able
to check and verify that the asphalt condition is much better
and with less potholes. With the times people were doing in
the wet today, if it doesn’t rain tomorrow I think the
track is going to be very fast. I’m confident that the
two hour session tomorrow will give me all the data we need
to establish a good race set-up for the bike and also to qualify
with a good position on the grid.
Alex Hofmann (16 laps. 1´53.71). “We
weren’t able to get a lot done today, because of the
morning’s rain. I’m just happy that I’m
able to ride my Ducati again! My hand is working alright,
and despite the effort of riding the powerful Desmosedici,
I’m not experiencing any more discomfort than when I’m
training on my bicycle or super-moto. I see that the weather
forecast for tomorrow is good, so we can find out more about
the circuit and get our bike as well sorted as we can.
Free Practice:
1º Marco Melandri 1´46.94
2º Valentino Rossi 1´48´66
3º Casey Stonerr 1´48´85
4º Loris Capirossi 1´49.16
5º Colin Edwards 1´49.21
10º Alex Barros 1´51.07
14º Alex Hofmann 1´53.17
|
