Grand Prix of China (Shanghai)
GOOD IMPROVEMENTS FOR BOTH PRAMAC D’ANTIN RIDERS
IN CHINA
 After
the first day of the race weekend on the Chinese Shanghai
circuit, team Pramac d’Antin was able to get important
data to continue its work for the race on Sunday. Because
of poor weather conditions, the track was slippery and made
it difficult for the riders to find the right feeling with
their DUCATI GP7 and fully exploit their potential. In the
afternoon, the situation was better and both Barros and Hofmann
were at ease on their bikes.
Brazilian Barros, in spite of his 13th position, was equally
satisfied and confident to improve tomorrow morning with some
bike refinements in order to obtain a good position during
the qualifying session.
German Hofmann finished his day in 9th position, going up
five positions thanks to his Team’s work between the
first and the second free practice session.
Alex Barros (2’02.051 – 19 laps): “The
first day of free practice at Shanghai did not start in a
very promising way for us and I wasn’t able to find
the right feeling with my DUCATI GP7 , so I was worried. In
the afternoon, the situation was better, we made some changes
to my bike set-up that gave us important results in order
to obtain good race pace and to allow me to ride with more
confidence. As regard tires we used only one race tire, obtaining
positive final results, with both rear and front. After today,
I’m quite satisfied, but tomorrow we still have a lot
of work to do: we need to improve the bike set-up and first
of all to choose the right tire for my race. I’m confident
and I hope to decrease my lap time further.”
Alex Hofmann (2’01.177 – 16 laps):
“As my team-mate, my first free practice wasn’t
really good. I didn’t really have a good feeling when
riding the bike and the grip levels from the track were not
very high which made it even harder. At the beginning we didn’t
understand exactly the real problem so we followed two different
directions: the first didn’t change anything, but the
second one gave us positive results. My team worked very well;
we modified bike setting and when I came back on track, I
immediately felt the difference. Even if I only did 16 laps,
I am satisfied and my laptime improved a lot.”
Official Time:
1° John Hopkins: 2’01.204
2° Marco Melandri: 2’01.303
3° Dani Pedrosa: 2’01.333
4° Nicky Hayden: 2.01.346
5° Loris Capirossi: 2’01.365
9° Alex Hofmann: 2’01.771
13° Alex Barros: 2’02.051
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