MELANDRI STARTS OUT ON THE FRONT FOOT VALENCIA
GP VALENCIA - FREE PRACTICE
After finishing second in his last race appearance two weeks
ago at Sepang, Marco Melandri carried his good form into the
first day of practice at the Grand Prix of Valencia - the
final round of the 2007 season.
After finishing second in the morning free practice, Melandri
ended the day fourth overall - 0.351 seconds behind pacesetter
Casey Stoner - giving him confidence for another podium appearance
in Sunday's race. Marco started from a good base setting and
instantly found a good feeling with the circuit, which seems
to suit the characteristics of his Honda RC212V well.
It was a more difficult start to the weekend for his team-mate
Toni Elias, who is highly motivated for a top race in his
home Grand Prix. The Spaniard will continue working with the
team on the setting of his bike tomorrow to try and prepare
himself as well as possible for the season's finale.
MARCO MELANDRI (4th, 1'33"319): "I
have to say I'm happy with today because we've started out
on the right foot. The bike is really manageable and has adapted
well to this track. Today we tried a few different tyre combinations
and tried to work out which was the most suitable. It's a
difficult decision because the track temperature varies a
lot, around 12 degrees, from the morning to the afternoon.
I'm confident because we've found a good base to start from.
Now we have to work on the suspension and refine the setting
to try and find a little more pace."
TONI ELIAS (15th, 1'34.218): "I'm not
happy with this result but it's only the first day but I'm
still confident. We have to keep working on the setting of
the bike and the tyre choice. It is a strange circuit and
it's not easy to find the right setting but we're in Spain,
at my home race, and I want to end the season with a good
result."
FAUSTO GRESINI: "Marco has worked really
well with the team and tested a variety of settings and tyre
combinations. We're happy to be running with the top three
on race tyres because Guintoli's lap was on a qualifier. Marco
has taken a good step forward and we'll keep working tomorrow.
Toni has strauggled a bit more with the set up of the bike
but we are confident that tomorrow he can improve".
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