Estoril, Portugal, Third MotoGP Round
Race, Sunday April 13th 2008
STEPS FORWARDS FOR THE ALICE TEAM IN THE PORTUGUESE
GRAND PRIX
 At
the third appointment of the season, after the difficulties
met during the first two Grand Prix races in Qatar and Jerez
de la Frontera, the Alice Team riders, Toni Elias and Sylvain
Guintoli, have improved their performances. The end of this
not-so-lucky period for the Hispanic-Italian Team is still
far, but this can be considered as a good starting point.
During the warm up, when the track was wet, Sylvain was at
ease on the Estoril circuit, but, unluckily for him, in the
first hours of the Portuguese afternoon, the track completely
dried out. On the contrary, Toni, who encountered some difficulties
in the 25 minutes of morning work concluding in 18th position,
found a good setting of the bike in the afternoon and finished
in 12th position. The Spaniard’s start from the 14th
position wasn’t the best, in fact, at the end of the
first lap he found himself in the 18th place and he remained
there until the 11th lap when he caught up with Anthony West
and overtook him. On the 15th lap he made a double overtake.
In fact, in only one lap the Spanish rider managed to pass
two Ducati riders, his teammate Guintoli and Marco Melandri.
The aggressive rider, who has won three times on this track,
twice in 250 and once in MotoGP, left behind the duo, finishing
the race in 12th position with almost six seconds of advantage.
Guintoli tried until the last meter to overtake Melandri,
but on the finish line he was, unfortunately, behind him by
only one tenth of a second, concluding in 14th position. Tomorrow
will be a day of testing for the Alice Team, before the next
World Championship round on May 4th, for the Pramac Grand
Prix of China.
Fabiano Sterlacchini – Technical Director
“Without a doubt this is a discreet starting point.
Actually, in Jerez and in Qatar, we were much slower during
the race. Here we have done a bit better. We understood some
things that we hope will allow us to improve in the near future.
We see the light at the end of the tunnel, even if it is still
too far. Also Sylvain has done well and this is really important
for the Team. We can think positive now and we believe we
can take further steps forward in the next grand prix in China.”
Toni Elias – Alice Team rider (12th position
– In MotoGP classification: 16th)
“The first part of the race was hard. I couldn’t
go very fast and not because of the rain on the track. When
the fuel tank lost some weight, I started to sensibly improve
my lap times and I was able to overtake a group of riders.
This made us understand that we have too much weight in the
front part of the bike. We have to improve and I hope that,
thanks to tomorrow’s test, we will find some interesting
solutions. The 12th position doesn’t satisfy me, but
at least this time I finished in front of West and Melandri.
As I said since the beginning of the season, we have to take
one step at a time.”
Sylvain Guintoli – Alice Team rider (14th position
– In MotoGP classification: 18th)
“Surely, having seen the warm up times, we hoped to
find a wet track for the race as well in order to be more
competitive. But it didn’t happen, and the sun dried
up the circuit. But, of course, we don’t have to depend
on the weather conditions and we have to find a good solution
for dry tracks too. In fact, also thanks to the laps done
today, we have obtained some interesting information. We hope
this information will be helpful for the next grand prix.”
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