Spanish GP: Pramac d'Antin practice notes

FIRST FREE PRACTICE AT JEREZ HOME GP FOR PRAMAC D'ANTIN MOTOGP RIDERS

A first free practice day characterized by quite variable weather conditions. The morning session was on wet track, with Jose Luis Cardoso and Alex Hofmann classifying themselves respectively in 4th and 6th position; the Spanish rider at only one second from the best time, on his home track. During the second free practice session, the weather conditions return stable and the track finally dry. Both Pramac d'Antin MOTOGP riders retrograded in the classification but are now at only two seconds from the fastest time, an acceptable gap considering the weather difficulties today.

Tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. the third and last free practice session and at 2 p.m. the single session of qualifying practice reserved to the MotoGP class riders, at 2 p.m.

JOSE LUIS CARDOSO #30 (1'43''712): "This morning the track was wet and it has been a beautiful sensation being in the first positions in front of my public. In these conditions there are always more possibilities and I usually feel quite good on the wet. During the second session, the track dried -even if still a bit humid in some places- and in these conditions we had some difficulties. We tried a new front tyre but I didn't find an adequate feeling and couldn't ride as I would have liked to. Everything was quite different from two weeks ago and this didn't allow us to continue on the same line. We will work to be at a good point tomorrow, but unfortunately we cannot know which will be the weather conditions. I really would like to obtain a good result on this track, this is my home GP and also my first MotoGP race on the DUCATI. We still have another free practice session tomorrow before the single qualifying practice session when it will be important to give the maximum to start the more in front as possible on the grid".

ALEX HOFMANN #66 (1'43''781): "I'm not very happy, this morning we lose an hour practice because of the rain. It was important to bring together all the components we had collected during the Winter Test, to define the general set-up of the bike for the race, but unfortunately we couldn't proceed as we would have liked to. Besides, we had some new material and tyres to test but we had to wait for the second practice session to do it. Even if there were some wind and humidity on the track during the afternoon, the ground conditions were good enough to allow us to go on with our program. We worked a lot, there is still much to do but I'm confident for tomorrow. In the meanwhile, our distance from the first riders is getting lower than during the Winter Test: today our gap was only two seconds from the fastest riders and I think this is positive."

ANDRE LAUGIER - Track Engineer of Jose Luis Cardoso: "Today we made some more tyres and set-up test but the weather conditions didn't help us to make everything we wanted. This morning the track was wet. Then, during the afternoon, it dried but the conditions were different from two weeks ago at the IRTA Test. Consequently, the riders sensations weren't the same and we had no possibility to proceed in the way we wanted. Tomorrow we will see, it will obviously depend on the weather conditions. Anyway the most riders rode slower today than during the last Test.".

-pda-