TOO CLOSE TO CALL IN THE MOTOGP CLASS
Twelve riders separated by less than a second at Le Mans
– it shows how close the MotoGP class is this year.
It means the French GP is likely to be a very tight affair
on Sunday. After two days of near solid rain, the MotoGP riders
were finally able to get out on a dry track on Saturday and
try to make up for lost time as they searched for the ideal
settings. Toni Elias ended the day satisfied with his position
on the grid, 12th, and the fact he was just seven tenths behind
Valentino Rossi who took pole. Ruben Xaus was, however, less
happy after ending the day in 16th position, a long way behind
pole.
Toni Elías (24)- 12th 1’33.991
"I thought I had done a really quick time, and then
suddenly I find myself in 12th place. I feel satisfied, though,
as I am ver close to the front of the field. I am only seven
tenths behind pole, but at a circuit like Le Mans that can
be a big difference as we saw. The important thing is that
we are still progressing. We didn’t have much time to
work in the dry and the rain has made this weekend difficult.
However, we will do some more work in the warm-up before the
race.”
 Ruben
Xaus (11)- 16th 1.35.772
"I have been in this situation all season. I don’t
know if it’s me not adapting to the bike, or the bike
not adapting to me or whether I can not relate to my mechanics
precisely enough what needs doing to improve the bike. It
could be a lot of things, but it’s obvious I wasn’t
given the chance in MotoGP because the Virgin Mary appeared!
These bikes are made to always lap at record speeds, if I
am not managing that it must be because small things are preventing
me from keeping up with the top riders. At the moment I am
more than two seconds down which is not good enough.”
Hervé Poncharal, FORTUNA YAMAHA Team Manager:
"Amazing! At last a dry track to ride on. I am very
happy because two Yamahas are amongst the top places which
shows we have a good bike. Tomorrow will be very open. The
work we can do in the warm-up might have more effect than
some people think.”
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