Qatari GP: Pramac D'Antin Friday notes

THE PRAMAC D'ANTIN MOTOGP TEAM IS READY FOR THE FIRST CHALLENGE OF THE 2007 MOTOGP CHAMPIONSHIP

The Pramac D'Antin MotoGP Team stands ready for the challenge of the 2007 MotoGP World Championship, after a pleasant second day of practice on the warm grounds of the Losail circuit. Alex Barros and Alex Hofmann had a very positive morning, in which the Brazilian was in sixth position for most of the session. Unfortunately, Barros didn't find the results he had hoped for during the warm qualification session. During the two days of practice, the work performed by the Team brought serenity to the Pramac D'Antin pit-box, allowing both riders to remain confident and ready to face the demands of this "comeback" race, which will start tomorrow at 15pm local time (GMT +3, CET +2).

Alex Barros will start from the fifth row of the grid, and Alex Hofmann from the sixth.

Alex Barros (15th - 1'56.814): "I am happy with todays session because we found a good balance for the bike and that will allow me to make a strong comeback through the field tomorrow, but on the other hand, I'm not satisfied with the Qualifying session because during the last minutes I wasn't able to exploit the full potential of the Bridgestones tires for a couple of reasons. The ground temperature of the circuit was warmer than I expected and some things didn't work out the way I thought they would. We will spend tonight checking the data and verifying what happened. Tomorrow I will ride full on and I know it's going to be difficult to regain a lot of positions. I feeling very competitive for the race, and for this I want to thank my team for all their excellent work which begin in the first Winter test session. When we tested here in Qatar a few weeks ago, we were very consistent and always in the first positions. I can't stand this situation, therefore tomorrow I will give 100% because I want to repay my team, our sponsors, and all my fans who follow me with great affection".

Alex Hofmann (17th - 1'57.274): "During the last test here in Qatar I ended the day with an unofficial time of 1'56.315, which was good for fourth place at the end of the day! I don't understand what happened today in the Qualifying session, because we were a second slower than before. The feeling with the bike wasn't good in the qualifying configuration, but the race set-up is good. We're losing a lot of time in the two slow corners, but we're ok in the fast corners. I didn't want to start the season like this. Technically, we'll double check everything during the morning warm-up session, and for the race I'm ready to fight! There are 22 laps and points to score, and I'm feeling confident that I'll ride to the maximum tomorrow".

-credit: pda