Gran Prix of Valencia. Qualifying Practice
THE PRAMAC-D´ANTIN TEAM HOPES FOR BETTER LUCK
IN TOMORROW'S RACE.
The Qualifying session held at the circuit of Cheste to determine
the starting positions for the last MotoGP race of the season,
was marked by an amazingly close field as the riders all jockeyed
for position. The Pramac-d'Antin Team didn't have especially
good luck as Alex Barros, in possibly the last qualifying
session of his professional career, was unable to exploit
the full potential from his Qualifying tire, relegating himself
to start the race from twelfth position, while even worse
luck struck his team mate, Chaz Davies, who crashed during
his fastest lap of the weekend, leaving him in worse shape
to start the race on Sunday.
Tomorrow's race will start at 2:00 PM (local time) and will
likely be attended by a massive crowd that can swell to 130,000
persons.
Alex Barros (24 laps. 1´32,71). “I
know I'm in a bad position to start the race tomorrow. Everything
is good enough, though, because we have a good set-up, adequate
tires for the race, and I like this track a lot, as demonstrated
by my finishing in the top five in two of the sessions. The
problem I have is with the Qualifying tires, because I can't
get everything out of them, and that means a worse spot on
the grid. Tomorrow, the question will be whether or not I
can get a great start and pass many people as possible in
the least amount of time so I can run with the front.
Lastly, I want to apologize to Loris for inadvertently slowing
him while he was on his fast lap and costing him valuable
positions”.
Chaz Davies (17 laps. 1´34,43). ”Well,
what can I say? This morning I was in a lot of pain, but we
did a good job and were ready for the Qualifying session this
afternoon. The set-up was getting good and little by little
I was lowering my times. When I went back out on-track to
get a better place on the grid with the Qualifying tire, I
committed the same mistake I made yesterday by opening the
gas too much before the tire was in the right condition, and
I crashed again. It was in the first right-hand corner after
six lefts before it, so that may have had something to do
with it. The race tomorrow will be very hard for me, because
my hand and body are in a lot of pain, but like always, I'm
going to give it everything I've got”.
Official Times.
1º Dani Pedrosa 1´31,51
2º Casey Stoner 1´31´60
3º Nicky Hayden 1´31´90
4º Randy de Puniet 1´31´96
5º Sylvain Guintoli 1´32´07
12º Alex Barros 1´32´71
19º Chaz Davies 1´34´43
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