Qualifying session Grand Prix of France (Le Mans)
DIFFICULT QUALIFYING SESSION FOR BOTH PRAMAC D’ANTIN
RIDERS
The second day of the French Grand prix finished with some
difficulties for both the Pramac d’Antin guys who were
unable to get a good position on the starting grid for tomorrow’s
race.
Alex Barros went out on track with his new helmet today
and classified himself in 13th position having experienced
some difficulties with his qualifying tires. The Brazilian
is nevertheless confident for his race based on his race pace
that enabled him to set a good lap dtime of1’35.085.
Equally difficult was Alex Hofmann’s day, the German
was unable to complete productive work in the qualifying session
because of some technical difficulties which left him with
only a low position from which to start his French race.
Alex Barros ( 1’35.085 with race tires - 1’34.817
with qualifying tires): “My afternoon session
wasn’t very good today, sincerely I hoped to find a
better time in order to have as little difficulty as possible
getting away at the start of tomorrow’s race. Unfortunately
I wasn’t able to get the right feeling with the Bridgestone
qualifying tires and I succeeded in only gaining a few tenths
which was not enough to get a good position on the starting
grid. In spite of that, I’m anyway confident for my
race because my race pace and my Ducati Desmosedici’s
race settings are very satisfactory. I know that tomorrow
will be a very complicated day, in this kind of track, as
it is very difficult to overtake, but I will push as hard
as possible to be with the leading group and to get final
good result.
Alex Hofmann (1’36.070 with race tires –
1’35.578 with qualifying tires): “ This
weekend seems to be a difficult one for me and we lost too
much time because of some technical difficulties. As yesterday,
after a little time that I was on track, I had to come back
to the box and change my bike. I’m not very satisfied
because I have not yet found the right feeling and I do not
feel confident which is why it has been difficult to obtain
favourable lap times. Now, together with the team, I hope
to set the bike up successfully for tomorrow, but I am sure
that it will be a tough race for us tomorrow afternoon.
Official Times:
1° Colin Edwards: 1’33.616
2° Casey Stoner: 1’33.710
3° Carlos Checa: 1’33.859
4° Valentino Rossi: 1’33.875
5° John Hopkins: 1.34.102
13° Alex Barros: 1.34.817
17° Alex Hofmann: 1.35.578
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