Tough first race for Team San Carlo Honda Gresini
 The
opening round of the 2008 MotoGP World Championship started
out in difficult fashion for Team San Carlo Honda Gresini
under the night sky of Doha. The Grand Prix of Qatar, the
first ever to take place under floodlights, saw Shinya Nakano
pick up points in thirteenth position after a battle with
factory Kawasaki rider John Hopkins.
Alex de Angelis started his MotoGP debut in determined fashion,
gathering pace and confidence with his Bridgestone-shod Honda
RC212V. After starting to make up positions, the San Marino
rider crashed out of the race just five laps from the end.
The team now head home to prepare for the next Grand Prix,
which takes place on the 30th March at Jerez de la Frontera,
in Spain, where the last IRTA tests took place.
Alex de Angelis (crashed five laps from the end):
“I’m really disappointed with the today’s
race because it seems my bike was slower than the others on
the straight, and I kept getting passed by riders coming out
of my slipstream and overtaking me on top speed. Throughout
the whole race I didn’t manage to get back on the pace
I’d set all weekend here and in the tests a week ago
and that’s disappointing because I’m sure I could
have fought with the group in front. It’s a shame we
didn’t come away with a result but we at least know
we have potential.”
Shinya Nakano (13th): “We knew after
free practice and qualifying that this was going to be a tough
race for us. I lost a few positions at the start but started
to make up ground after a few laps. By the end I was battling
with the group in front and I reached the 13th place. This
isn’t the result we were hoping for so we have to improve
next time. I’m confident for Jerez – we’ve
tested there and we have a lot of good data to work from.”
Fausto Gresini – Team Manager: ”It
has been a difficult day and we expected something more. With
Alex we had a few problems with chattering and he wasn’t
able to ride as he has all weekend. It’s a shame he
wasn’t able to reproduce his pace from practice in the
race. This made it difficult for him and led to the crash.
He has grown though and never stopped fighting. Things were
a little better for Shinya but he was also further back than
we’d hoped. Now we have to be positive for Jerez because
we have better potential.”
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