MELANDRI CLAIMS BEST QUALIFYING RESULT OF THE SEASON
Marco Melandri secured his best qualifying result of the
season and will start tomorrow's French GP from the second
row. The Italian rider ended the second day of qualifying
in fifth position, eight tenths behind pole-sitter Dani Pedrosa
on his Honda.
Melandri knew how to adapt to the changeable weather conditions
with the morning session taking place on a wet track and the
afternoon in dry conditions. Forecasts are predicting rain
tomorrow so Marco is preparing himself for a race in wet conditions.
It was a difficult day for team-mate Toni Elias who struggled
to find the right set-up to improve his lap time from yesterday.
The Spanish rider continued to suffer with rear grip problems
and will start tomorrow's race in 16th position.
MARCO MELANDRI (1'34"795, 5th): It
was a positive day, we worked well and found a good set-up
to work from. I think the set-up will work well whatever the
conditions in the race. The bike worked well from the start
in the qualifying session and I found a good rhythm. However,
I couldn't make full use of the qualifying tyre as I hit a
bit of traffic which caused me to slow down. However, I'm
happy with fifth position, it's my best qualifying performance
of the season and I have achieved my objective which was to
start from the first two rows. I have to select the tyre for
the race and then I hope to get a good result."
TONI ELIAS (1'36"582, 16th): "I
am still having a problem which is preventing me from riding
as I want. I will sit down with the team to try and find a
solution as soon as possible. I am still a little nervous
on the bike as I don't have the rear grip I want which is
making it difficult to exit corners. It will be a difficult
race tomorrow, I hope to make a good start and make up some
positions. I like this circuit and have always gone fast here
so I hope to get a good result."
TIMES:
1. D.Pedrosa (Sp/Honda) 1'33"990
2. S.Nakano (Jap/Kawasaki) 1'34"201
3. J.Hopkins (Usa/Suzuki) 1'34"636
4. R.DePuniet (Fr/Kawasaki) 1'33"780
5 M.Melandri (Ita/Honda) 1'34"795
16 T.Elias (Sp/Honda) 1'36"582
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