Good beginning of the weekend for the Alice Team who thanks its riders, Sylvain Guintoli and Toni Elias, enter the top ten in the first day of work at Motegi. During the first free session, with wet track, the two riders have respectively finished in fifth and seventh position while in the second hour when the track was completely dry they concluded in sixth and ninth position. Tomorrow the weather forecast promises much better weather conditions that should help the two riders to modify and improve theirs Ducati Desmosedici GP8 Sat during the last free session and improve their positions in the qualifying hour.
Sergio Verbena – Sylvain Guintoli Track Engineer
“This has been a good day for us. This morning Sylvain has concluded in fifth position and in the afternoon, when the track was completely dry, he managed to finish in sixth position. The nicest thing is that in the first, second and fourth intermediate he is really close to the fastest riders and only need to improve in the third sector where he is still losing too much time. We remain really positive for the rest of the weekend. Also Toni has done well and he will surely be able, like it happened in the last races, to stay with the fastest riders.”
Sylvain Guintoli – Alice Team Rider (6th best lap time in 1’48.794 – Total laps 42):
“We made it to be competitive today in wet and dry track condition. This gives him a lot of confidence for the rest of the racing weekend. We are really fast on this track apart the third sector where I need to improve my riding style. The bike is surely very competitive here. My results have improved a lot in the last races and I hope this will allow me to find a good bike to race for next season.”
Toni Elias – Alice Team Rider (9th best lap time in 1’48.974 – Total laps 36):
“I am very happy because today I have sensibly improved my performances with wet surface. For me this is very important. When the track dried out I found some complications and I have to improve a lot, but notwithstanding this we are already in a good position not too far from the bests. Tomorrow the weather should be better and this will allow us to improve our lap times also with the dry track.”
Combined practice times: 1.
| Casey Stoner (AUS)
| Ducati Marlboro
| 1'48.121 |
| 2. | Dani Pedrosa (SPA) | Repsol Honda | 1'48.194 |
| 3. | Valentino Rossi (ITA) | Fiat Yamaha Team | 1'48.510 |
| 4. | Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) | JiR Team Scot MotoGP | 1'48.770 |
| 5. | Loris Capirossi (ITA) | Rizla Suzuki MotoGP | 1'48.779 |
| 6. | Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) | Alice Team | 1'48.794 |
| 7. | Nicky Hayden (USA) | Repsol Honda | 1'48.800 |
| 8. | Marco Melandri (ITA) | Ducati Marlboro | 1'48.945 |
| 9. | Toni Elias (SPA) | Alice Team | 1'48.974 |
| 10. | Randy De Puniet (FRA) | LCR Honda MotoGP | 1'49.149 |
| 11. | Shinya Nakano (JPN) | San Carlo Honda Gresini | 1'49.190 |
| 12. | John Hopkins (USA) | Kawasaki Racing | 1'49.197 |
| 13. | Colin Edwards (USA) | Tech 3 Yamaha | 1'49.424
|
| 14. | James Toseland (GBR) | Tech 3 Yamaha | 1'49.424 |
| 15. | Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) | Fiat Yamaha Team | 1'49.505 |
| 16. | Chris Vermeulen (AUS) | Rizla Suzuki
| 1'49.664 |
| 17. | Anthony West (AUS) | Kawasaki Racing | 1'50.131 |
| 18. | Alex De Angelis (RSM) | San Carlo Honda Gresini | 1'50.158 |
