Alex Barros scored a very satisfactory eighth place for the Pramac d’Antin team in Catalunya today after the 25-lap Catalunya GP, round seven of this season’s championship, drew to an exciting close. The race was won in thrilling style by Casey Stoner demonstrating a competitive performance with his Ducati-Bridgestone package around the Catalan circuit in Montmelò. Even though the “red” of Borgo Panigale wasn’t considered favourite for this race, Ducati confirmed substantial improvements and scored top ten results with three of its riders.
The eighth position scored by Barros after a competitive race resulted in the Brazilian getting eight important points for the championship classification which improves his overall position to eighth. The MotoGP veteran, starting from the fourteenth position on the starting grid, showed his determination recovering six important positions during the 25 laps.
His team-mate Alex Hofmann, who obtained a good position during Saturday’s qualifying practice, did not have an easy day; because of his difficulties with the bike’s feeling, he could only obtain thirteenth position, and hopes to be better at the next race in Donington.
Alex Barros (43’41.769 – 8° classified):
“I’m satisfied for my final result, I think I was good in this race. For us this week-end it hasn’t been very easy, we had some difficulties during the two days before the race, so this morning after the warm-up we decided to change setting but in the end we understood that it was better to come back and use the same set-up we had yesterday. Fortunately I made a good start, but at the first turn, I made a mistake and I lost some positions. Today, for me, the race was very hard, in the first part I had difficulties to recover position and in the second part I had some difficulties with the front. Unfortunately it didn’t feel as we expected and we maybe hoped for a bit more from this race; anyway, the thing that makes me satisfied is that I pushed strongly from the beginning to the end, fighting for the eighth position as if it were a podium. I have deep motivation and I hope to be faster in the next race.”
Alex Hofmann (43’57.841 – 13° classified):“I’m not satisfied, because this race wasn’t as I had hoped for. I don’t know the real reason because after the warm-up in the morning I was confident to do a good race. When I started, I knew immediately that I didn’t have the right feeling with t he bike. I did not make a good start, furthermore I lost a lot in acceleration and I couldn’t be fast as I wanted. During the race I made some overtaking, but the moves weren’t enough to obtain a good end result. I’m very displeased with the race, especially because I wanted to be good for all the many fans who came here today. Tomorrow we will spend one day more in Spain to do some tests, I hope to be able to find the right solution for the next race.”
Luis d’Antin – Team Manager:“Finally I’m satisfied for this result and the eighth position is actually quite good. I’m happy for the team and for Alex Barros, especially after the two previous days; he wasn’t able to find the right feeling with his Desmosedici, but today even if he hasn’t the perfect rhythm, he fought hard to get the best possible resul t. This is a further confirmation that the team is working very well and also in difficult situation has the right spirit to go on. I would like to compliment the team, for us it is very important to get a good result at the Catalunya Grand Prix, there were a lot of fans and sponsors who came to support us, and it was important to say thank you with a good race.”
Official Time:1. Casey Stoner: 43’16.907
2. Valentino Rossi: 43’16.976
3. Dani Pedrosa: 43’17.297
4. John Hopkins: 43’24.761
5. Randy de Puniet: 43’34.760
8. Alex Barros: 43’41.769
13. Alex Hofmann: 43’57.841
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