Both Pramac d’Antin riders Alex Barros and Alex Hofmann ended this afternoon’s British GP at Donington Park with top ten results to show for their efforts.
Intermittent rain showers during the morning left a wet track for the start of this afternoon’s thirty-lap race, the eighth round of this year’s MotoGP championship, which made life difficult for all teams and riders. Although it was a tough race, the Pramac d’Antin team were rewarded with a positive outcome as Barros claimed seventh place ahead of his German team-mate Hofmann in ninth.
Barros, starting from the fifth row, made an impressive recovery to add another nine impo rtant points for his world champion classification in which the Brazilian is now eighth.
Hofmann also had a good race to reach ninth place to obtain seven points that have enabled him to go up one step in the world classification table, ahead of the reigning world champion Nicky Hayden.
Alex Barros (7th – 52’18.833): “I’m quite satisfied for the race. Honestly speaking, I hoped for an even better result, but because of my position on the starting grid and the inclement track conditions, we couldn’t do a lot more. I started well, but when I sped up, the bike started to slip and I lost some positions. At the beginning my race pace was good, in fact I started to push and I was able to overtake Pedrosa and arrive very close to Loris who was riding so fast. Unfortunately during the race, the asphalt be came to dry and I start to have some difficulties. Maybe the Bridgestone front tyre we chose was too soft and didn’t help me to ride well, but on the contrary, the rear became increasingly better and gave me an important help. To race with these conditions is always difficult, but I gave my best to obtain the best possible result.”
Alex Hofmann (9th – 52’19.978): “If I look at my result I’m satisfied, the ninth position is not so bad for us, but if I consider the whole race, there are certainly areas which we can work on further in the future. I made a good start to recover four positions, but I could not succeed to attack the other riders that were in front of me. After some laps, I started to have a good race pace and I could see my team-mate Alex Barros and Dani Pedrosa were not so far from me, but I wasn’t able to overtake them because I made a mistake in the last turn and I lost precious time.”
Luis d’Antin – Team Manager: “It was a very difficult race for us, but finally we are satisfied because we obtained good results with both Barros and Hofmann. I’m really happy because the team worked well and I’m sure that if track conditions had been different, the results could have been even better. This race was important for us and gave us further confidence and motivation, we will continue to work hard because we want get back on the podium again.”
The next appointment on the world championship calendar takes the Pramac d’Antin team to the Netherlands where Assen will host the Dutch TT next weekend.