ALEX BARROS SCORES PODIUM FINISH IN MUGELLO AFTER AN EXCITING
RACE
 The
Pramac d’Antin team today obtained a third placed podium
finish in the Italian GP after Alex Barros rode an excellent
race. It was a perfect day for the Italo-Spanish team who
enjoyed a competitive race in favourable weather conditions.
Brazilian Barros showed his potential right from the beginning
of the race, making a good start and riding supremely right
up to the final lap in what is one of MotoGP’s most
eagerly awaited championship races.
The race was more difficult for his team-mate Alex Hofmann
who wasn’t able to achieve the desired result in what
was his 100th GP. The German rider found it difficult to get
the correct feeling from his machine and was understandably
dissatisfied with his race result.
Alex Barros (3rd Place, 42’48.341):.
“I am of course really happy to have achieved my first
podium of this season and it has come at the perfect time.
Mugello is the home race for Ducati and Pramac, so I am pleased
to be able to give them a fitting result. I would like to
say thanks to the entire Pramac d’Antin team for a very
good job and to Bridgestone for providing me with tyres capable
of scoring the podium. After the fourth place we got in Turkey,
I have had my share of bad luck in recent races, so it is
good to get such a competitive result, also at a circuit I
like very much. Now, I hope we can continue to show our competitiveness
for the rest of the season, and I’m quite sure we can
achieve this together, my team is working very well and I’m
very confident and comfortable with them all.”
Alex Hofmann (11th Place, 43.07.166): “Alex
made a good race and I’m happy for him and the whole
team, but I cannot be satisfied with my result. I don’t
really know what happened, but after the race began, I knew
immediately that I wasn’t able to find the right feeling
with the handling at the rear of the bike. Even if yesterday
we had good race pace, today I wasn’t fast as I would
have liked to be and it was a very difficult GP. It was all
a bit frustrating because I tried to speed up, but I wasn’t
able to. I hope to return to form in the next race, but we
haven’t got a lot of time to improve, so we will have
to work very hard.”
Luis d’Antin – General Director: “Today
was a beautiful race for us and we were finally able to get
the result that we have been waiting for this season. To get
a podium finish in the home race for Pramac and Ducati was
definitely a very important and fitting result. We have been
able to show that we are working in the right direction because
we have had some bad luck and have not been able to get the
results that show our true potential. I am very happy for
the team who have always worked very hard and who deserve
a day like today. I would like to thank everyone involved,
Bridgestone and Ducati for the support that they have been
giving and all of our sponsors who were here this weekend
in vast numbers to cheer us on.”
Official Times:
1° Valentino Rossi: 42’42.385
2° Dani Pedrosa 42.45.459
3° Alex Barros 42’48.341
4° Casey Stoner: 42’48.397
5° John Hopkins: 42’55.629
11° Alex Hofmann: 43.07.166
The next championship appointment will see the Pramac d’Antin
team take part in the second Spanish round of the season,
the Catalunya GP, which will take place next weekend in Barcelona.
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