Czech GP: Gresini Racing qualifying report

San Carlo Honda Gresini riders Toni Elias and Alex de Angelis will both launch their challenge for honours in the Czech Republic Grand Prix from solid foundations tomorrow, having qualified fourth and seventh fastest respectively in this afternoon's grid shootout.

Elias continued to make gradual improvements throughout the day after a productive first session yesterday and his best lap of 1'56.817 was bettered only by factory trio Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa. De Angelis stepped up his pace on his final lap to secure another good grid position that he would love to repeat in tomorrow's race.

Toni Elias (6th 1'56.817): "We've been strong in every session, always amongst the top six and to have qualified fourth, we can't ask for much more. We worked hard to solve the problems we had yesterday and now the objective is to get a good start and try and follow the lead group. It is going to be difficult because the top three are all fast riders on top material but you never know what can happen in racing. The important thing from our point of view is that we're close. We have been to two tracks recently in Donington and Sachsenring that I don't like but I love it here and it shows. Hopefully it will show in the race tomorrow too!"

Alex De Angelis (8th; 1'57.775): "I'm really pleased because we had some problems during the session getting the bike to hold its line through the corners -- it kept wanting to run wide -- but we found a solution in the final few minutes without having to dramatically alter the general balance of the bike. I felt I could go faster and that proved to be the case and now I think we have even more room for improvement before tomorrow. I think at any racetrack a position inside the top eight or even ten is a good result for us and that is the target for tomorrow, although the most important thing is to bring it home in the points."

Fausto Gresini - Team Manager: "I'm really pleased with qualifying today. Toni found a better setting this morning and had a great session this afternoon to give us genuine hope of a top race tomorrow. Alex also worked well and kept pushing to the end because he knew he could go faster. He showed great attitude and application so hopefully we can carry this positive trend through to the race tomorrow."

-credit: gresini