“The gap to cut down is just too much right now”Alice Team riders, Toni Elias and Sylvain Guintoli, have stepped on the Losail international circuit, in Qatar, for the first qualifying session of the 2008 MotoGP World Championship under the floodlights.
Guintoli
wasn't in the best physical conditions due to some fever and a bad cold. Elias has tried to improve his best lap time until the last second trying to improve his position in the standing, concluding in fourteenth position, in fifth row. In the qualifying hour the track temperature was of fifteenth degrees, while the air temperature just one degree more.
Tomorrow twenty minutes of warm up before the first historic nocturnal MotoGP race.
Fabiano Sterlacchini – Technical Director
“The fact is that the gap to cut down is too much right now and even if we make little improvements is not enough. We hope that we are following the right direction. We must give the right feeling to Toni with the front part of the bike. For what it concern the race, we believe in Toni's qualities, as he is a rider who gives his best when in the middle of the group. If he will have a good start, we could make it to enter the top ten. It could be a good sign for the rest of the season.”
Toni Elias – Alice Team Rider (14th best lap time in 1'56.251 – Total laps 19)
“I am not happy about this position. I am sure that our potential can allow us to be further up in the standing, but as I said in the past days, we are a bit behind with the job and we must improve both in the race and in qualifying.
The bike is really strong, it's only matter of time and work, soon we will fight for better positions. We hope to start well in the race and fight at our best for the all race.”
Sylvain Guintoli – Alice Team Rider (17th best lap time in 1'57.198 – Total laps 18)
“Unluckily I woke up this morning with a bit of fever and a bad cold. When I am on track I sweat a lot even if the air temperatures are low. I didn't find the feeling with the bike for the all weekend, I can't push to the limit. I hope that tomorrow morning during warm up we will make it to find a good compromise which will allow me to fight for better positions. In this moment I am not enjoying riding at all. It has been a strange weekend so far.”
Alice Team
