ELIAS AND XAUS READY FOR MOST IMPORTANT RACE OF THE YEAR
Toni Elias and Ruben Xaus will try to make the Grand Prix
of Qatar their best race of the season. Elias again confirmed
the good qualifying form he showed in Malaysia last week,
but will this time want a better finish. After finishing yesterday
as the second quickest rider, he fell to ninth today which
means he will start from the third row of the grid. For his
part, Ruben Xaus will struggle to match his result on this
circuit from last year, but spent qualifying today fine-tuning
his set-up for tomorrow’s race. The Spaniard will start
from the sixth row of the grid.
Toni Elias
Free sessions: 1’58.494, 9th, + 0.486
Qualifying: 1’57.902, 9th + 0.985 off pole
“The best thing would have been to maintain my second
place from yesterday, even though we knew that would be very
hard, so I am not as happy as yesterday. It’s obvious
we have improved in relation to the other Gps and I think
I have a good rhythm for the race. I always struggle a bit
on qualifying tyres, but I am going well and think I can have
a good race. For this race, the only tactic is to make a good
start and try to lap with the eight riders who will be at
the front. I want to finish a good weekend with a good result
to make up foe the disappointment of Malysia.”
Rubén Xaus
Free sessions: 2’00.292, 16th, + 2.284
Qualifying: 1’59.482, 16th, + 2.565 off pole
“Last year I was lapping very fast here but it has
been a lot harder this time around. We are improving little
by little and, although we wanted to make a big leap this
afternoon, we are heading in the right direction. In the afternoon
I found it difficult to match my time in the third free session.
Tomorrow in the warm-up we will try to make sure we have everything
as good as we can for the race.”
Antonio Jiménez, Toni Elias’ head mechanic
“The most important thing is always your race rhythm
and in that result we are prepared. In the official qualifying
session things did not go quite as we planned, but that is
how it goes in bike racing and we are satisfied with our position
on the grid. We will try to fine-tune one or two things in
the warm-up tomorrow.”
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