BRITISH GRAND PRIX
Qualifying practice / MARCO MELANDRI IN BRILLIANT
FORM
FORTUNA HONDA rider Marco Melandri, still hurting from his
crash at Barcelona two weeks ago, produced a brilliant performance
in qualifying for the British Grand Prix today. The Italian,
suffering intense pain in his neck and shoulder, was third
fastest and will start tomorrow’s race from the front
row of the grid. The result once again shows the great physical
strength and talent of the FORTUNA HONDA rider, who’s
consistency in practice means that he can look forward to
tomorrow’s race with high hopes. His team-mate Michel
Fabrizio, standing in for the injured Toni Elías, himself
suffered an injury today as he broke his collarbone in a morning
free practice crash. Tomorrow’s MotoGP race will take
place an hour earlier than usual at 1pm.
MARCO MELANDRI: 3rd 1’28.205 (+0.529)
“It is incredible to have set the third fastest time
just two weeks after the accident. This is quite a tough circuit
and it will be very difficult tomorrow so I just hope to stay
with the front group from the start. Donington requires a
lot of physical effort and even though I am not at 100% I
hope I can stand the pace of the race. We have to take a step
forward with my own pace but considering the pain I am in
it was a very good result today.”
MICHELE FABRIZZIO (Crashed):
“I am really sorry. I wasn’t even pushing that
hard and I think we were doing a good job with the team. We
still had a lot of room for improvement and we knew where
it was. I think we were heading for high 1’21s but I
fell in the final corner before the straight. It is a shame
because it has brought an important experience to an abrupt
end.”
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