READY AND WAITING FOR THE SEASON OPENER
Everything is ready for the start of the MotoGP World Championship
this Sunday at Jerez, with the Spanish Grand Prix. The MotoGP
category, considered the premier motorcycling class, promises
to be extremely intense in its curtain raiser. Amongst those
stars taking part in the campaign this year will be 2004's
"Rookie of the Year" -Ruben Xaus-, and the arrival
onto the top level of another rising star. That's the other
of FORTUNA YAMAHA's riders, Toni Elías, who hopes to
inherit his teammate's crown as best debutant.
After a dark and grey day yesterday, today it was the wind
which played a considerable part in today's practice day.
The third free session, which took place in the morning,
saw many riders run off track and others crash out due to
the conditions, which made it hard for the riders to stay
upright at certain points on the track.
In the afternoon, during the only official session for MotoGP
which Defines grid positions, track conditions were perfect,
and this was proved whenThe riders were finally able to improve
the times they set here during the IRTA test session a couple
of weeks ago.
Toni Elías, as a MotoGP debutant, was able to set
his best laps during the afternoon session, and finally ended
up in thirteenth on the grid, 1.610
seconds off the best time of the weekend set by reigning World
Champion: Valentino Rossi (1.39.419)
The Spanish rider was satisfied: "I'm very happy because
in the end the result was better than we all expected. Perhaps
the position doesn't
represent the effort we have put in, but the lap time does,
and it shows we have made good progress. I felt much better
with the race tyres than with the qualifiers. The problem
is that I don't know the limits of these softer compounds,
and so maybe I'm stopping myself a little. The important thing
tomorrow is to ride along with the top MotoGP riders and learn
from their experience. That is my aim."
Ruben Xaus as usual put his utmost in. The Spanish rider
continues to Adapt to the Yamaha, a very different bike to
the one he rode previously in the championship. Tomorrow he
will start from the sixth row of the grid, after having finished
2.867 seconds behind the top time: "We have to be calm
about things. But we also need to be realistic. This isn't
easy work, that's for
sure, and we've got a lot to do. The thing is that all the
changes require time to adapt. I know that tomorrow we will
make progress, because I'm
usually a much better racer. Furthermore, we can rely on the
brilliant support from the Jerez crowd. Their cheers and their
support will be vital."
Toni Elías (Fortuna Yamaha), 13th:
1.41.029 (26 laps).
Ruben Xaus (Fortuna Yamaha), 17th: 1.42.286
(24 laps).
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