ELIAS AND MELANDRI READY TO CHARGE
 The
Grand Prix of Turkey promises to be a real challenge for the
Team Honda Gresini riders as they start from the fourth and
fifth rows of the grid.
After finding a good race pace during practice Toni Elias
is counting on making a good start and making full use of
the hard braking zones at the Turkish track to make up positions.
The Spaniard was in spectacular form today as he lit up the
circuit with a series of his trademark slides.
Marco Melandri finds himself in exactly the same position
as last year, when he charged from 14th on the grid to take
victory in Istanbul for the second successive season. The
team is working hard to make sure Marco can find the right
set-up during tomorrow's warm-up and launch another fightback
in the race.
TONI ELIAS (10th,1'53"835): "Tenth
place is a real handicap for the race but I'll just try and
get a good start, stay calm and make up as many positions
as I can. I'm quite happy because I set a good pace and this
is the important thing. I'll try and make the most of the
hard-braking areas to pass people and I'm confident I can
do it. The team is working well and we have a clear idea about
tyre choice. I'm just disappointed I couldn't make better
use of the qualifying tyre."
MARCO MELANDRI (14th, 1'54"082): "It's
been a difficult day because I haven't managed to find the
right feeling with the bike. I'm not confident enough to push
hard and get the best out of the bike. We've done a lot of
laps and the tyres are holding out well but we tried a few
different solutions with the bike set-up and didn't find the
improvement we need. The team is working really well though
and in the warm up we'll try going back to the set-up we had
on Friday before the two crashes."
FAUSTO GRESINI: "Marco is having a
tough time but the team will do their best to support him
and find the right set-up. We know that this is not a reflection
of his true potential."
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