The Pramac D’antin team heads to Great Britain for the eighth championship appointment on the 2007 MotoGP calendar that at the Donington Park track in England. The track is characterised by fast corners and hard deceleration that makes life hard for the riders especially when weather conditions are not favourable. For Alex Barros, who is currently in eighth position in the riders’ championship, the Donington track holds good memories and is a circuit at which he achieved a string of four consecutive podiums between 2001 and 2005. He also holds the maximum speed record.
Team-mate Alex Hofmann is in positive frame of mind after the post Catalunya test at the Monmelò circuit and will use the British GP as an occasion to demonstrate the progress made.
As usual, the race weekend will start on Friday 22 June with free practice and end on Sunday 24 with the race that will take place at 1pm local time (GMT +1).
Alex Barros (51 points – 8th in championship):
“The next race is very important for us. As I look at my position on championship classification, I hope to arrive in the first five positions this weekend to get important points that will enable me to secure this eighth position in the championship. During the last years, I always obtained good results in Great Britain, between 2001 and 2005 I was always able to visit the podium and in 2000 I recorded the fastest lap. It isn’t one of my favourite tracks, also because as I always say there isn’t any track I particularly prefer, but I hope to be able to keep this positive tradition in Donington and ride a good race. Maybe we will suffer b ecause there is not a long straight, but we will make our best to get a good start and hopefully reach our target.”
Alex Hofmann (38 points – 12th in championship):
“I’m ready for the next race and I want to do well. After my fifth position in Le Mans, I had some difficulties both in Mugello and Barcelona, but after the test we made in Montmelò, I’m more confident and I hope to be able to show that I and my team have the possibility to score good results. I know that this will not be an easy track, but I will give my best. I hope to do another good qualifying session and to start as high up the grid as possible because we will not have a long straight to exploit this weekend.”
Luis d’Antin – Team Manager:
“The ne xt GP in Donington will not be very easy for us: the track isn’t really suited to our bike characteristics, but we will give our maximum to have a competitive race. Thanks to the material that both Bridgestone and Ducati give us, we have always shown ourselves to be capable of running inside the top ten, and the next round could be an occasion to confirm that the package at our disposal is really competitive and to show that we can get results even if things seem to be at a disadvantage. If all goes in the right direction, I’m sure that we won’t be going to Assen without first obtaining important points for the championship in Donington.”
The Circuit
The main Donington circuit characteristic, built in 1931, is to be composed in two different stages. The first one was very f ast and racy, the second one born in 1987 welcomed MotoGP after a track enlargement and breaks up the riders’ rhythm with fast corners and hard braking.
Opened: 1931
Modified: 1985
Length: 4023m
Width: 10m
Longest Straight: 564m
Right turns: 7
Left turns: 4
Pole position: left
Final Results –MotoGP Class:
1. Dani Pedrosa: 44’54.878
2. Valentino Rossi: 44’58.742
3. Marco Melandri: 44’58.894
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