ELIAS DECKED IN GAUDI COLOURS AND READY FOR HOME RACE
 The
Team Honda Gresini riders worked hard on improving their settings
for the race during two hour-long practice sessions today,
before both qualifying for the Grand Prix of Catalunya on
the third row of the grid.
The Spaniard Toni Elias both set a good pace today and is
optimistic about his chances tomorrow. For Toni it is a particularly
special event and he plans to celebrate his home race with
a tribute to Antoni Gaudì, a major exponent of modernist
Catalan architecture and a symbol of Barcelona around the
world. Elias took to the track today with a new livery - leathers,
helmet and boots – inspired by the local legend.
Marco Melandri, who has worked during these 2 days in preparation
of the race, has quite a good pace and he hopes to make a
good start for the race.
TONI ELIAS (8th, 1'42.607): "I’m
happy with my race pace and confident about tomorrow. I’m
disappointed to be on the third row and I’ll have to
get a good start but we’ve had two good days of practice
working on the race setting. Tomorrow will be a tough fight
but I’m ready for it. This is my home race so I wanted
to celebrate that with a special livery inspired by Gaudi.
I love his mosaics and colour schemes – especially because
they represent Barcelona around the world – and Aldo
Drudi came up with a lovely design. I’m sure the fans
will give me an added boost tomorrow and help me towards a
top result.”
MARCO MELANDRI (9th, 1'42.623): “We’re
moving forward. This morning we ran a couple of comparative
tests and in the afternoon I only ran the modified chassis
that we tried for the first time at Le Mans. The race pace
is quite good and after all the problems we’ve had this
weekend I’m quite happy with the third row. Tomorrow
I’ll just try and get a good start and fight for a top
result.”
FAUSTO GRESINI: "Toni has done a good
job all weekend and taken a real step forward. He has been
setting a good pace and I think he can do well tomorrow because
the position on qualifying tyres does not reflect his true
potential. Marco has struggled a little in practice so we’ll
try and make use of the warm-up in the morning to make a few
final modifications.”
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