EIGHTH FASTEST FOR ALEX BARROS, HARMLESS FALL FOR ALEX HOFMANN
 The
first free practice day at the French circuit in Le Mans,
was characterized by undesirable weather conditions that gave
some difficulties to Team Pramac d’Antin who were not
able to work at their best during the day.
In spite of this, Alex Barros is generally satisfied with
his first free practice day, that was very important to get
an overall feeling for the track and to analyze different
bike set-ups for his race preparations.
Bad luck for Alex Hofmann who was the victim of a harmless
fall and wasn’t able to make the most of the hard work
that his team had put in, leaving some remaining issues to
work before qualifying practice tomorrow afternoon.
Alex Barros (1’36.044): “I’m
quite satisfied after this opening day at the Le Mans Circuit
because we have found a good base. Today we worked on different
bike’s geometries in order to develop the best for my
riding style. We also made some tire tests that have given
us positive results; this is especially important because
now we have a lot of options for the race. The only problem
we have at the moment is my lap time, I have to lower it,
but I’m sure that we have a good possibility to improve.
Because of the weather conditions today, the track wasn’t
very good, and in different conditions, I am sure to be faster,
so I am anyway confident heading into tomorrow.”
Alex Hofmann (1’37.751): “This
is a day to forget! In the morning I wasn’t able to
find the right feeling with my Desmosedici, so before the
afternoon session we changed bike set-up, but unfortunately
I fell after my first lap and I couldn’t continue with
the same bike. For this reason we were not able to find the
right race set-up. I hope to do achieve this tomorrow before
the qualifying session in order to obtain the best possible
position on the starting grid.”
Official Times:
1° Marco Melandri: 1’35.319
2° Dani Pedrosa: 1’35.467
3° Carlos Checa: 1’35.498
4° Colin Edwards: 1’35.626
5° John Hopkins: 1’35.746
8° Alex Barros: 1’36.044
18° Alex Hofmann: 1’37.751
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