Qatari GP: Pramac d'Antin qualifying notes

A step behind for the Team Pramac d'Antin MotoGP in the GP of Qatar

A hard day. The qualifying practice of the GP of Qatar showed the technical difficulties that is facing the Team Pramac d'Antin MotoGP. Alex Hofmann and Jose Luis Cardoso classified themselves respectively in 18th and 19th position. The Team didn't manage to find the right combination between the numerous regulations and the DUNLOP tyres, to give the necessary grip to the DUCATI DESMOSEDICI GP06 "Sat.". On the front, the lack of adherence causes difficulties in the entry of the corners and besides there are no possibilities to exploit the powerful of the bike in a good way. Tomorrow the race of the MotoGP class will start at 3 p.m. (GMT+3).

ALEX HOFMANN #66 (1'59''591): "I'm disappointed because before today I never qualified myself four seconds slower than the pole position, neither at the beginning of my career. Today all the riders did a step ahead but we worsened technically from yesterday. It seems to me like I'm making steps behind and that's a very awful sensation for a rider. I'm worry because we don't know which direction we need to follow and, theorycally, this track should have been the more adapted to our tyres, so I don't know what to think anymore".

JOSE LUIS CARDOSO #30 (1'59''733): "Today we made lots of test, we tried many regulations and we worked a lot on the suspensions because I had no confidence in the entry of the corners. Unfortunately, we didn't find any adequate solution, we had chosen a nice front tyre, softer, but it had not enough length. In consequence, we used a harder tyre that, unfortunately, was a bit of a trouble for the set-up of the motorcycle, wasting all the work that had been done. This explains why we did so many test, but we had no positive results to be able to improve our times some more. To qualify, we used a race tyre, that allowed us to ride one second lower than with the qualifying tyre we had".

LUIS D'ANTIN - Team Manager: "We're not used to work in these conditions. Our tyres' official supplier, DUNLOP, has to apply harder to evolve and give us more adapted material, because, going on like this, we only waste spare parts and fuel. The situation is now unbearable, for the riders, the Team, all the technical partners that believe in us, and for DUCATI. We will do our maximum for tomorrow, we will work even harder. The solution is not inside our garage and we have no magic wand".

-pda-