DANI PEDROSA
(5th, 1’25”666): “I am happy – we have tested a lot of things and the result makes me feel calm. At the end of the session I had a slight problem with the carburation and there wasn’t time to switch bikes. That made it difficult to steer but at least we know what the problem is. We just have to decide what tyres to use, depending on the temperature. I will have to get a good start because it’s difficult to overtake in the first section here. Then it’s a case of holding my concentration because we are all very close together and there will be no room for mistakes.”
HIROSHI AOYAMA
(12th, 1’26”300): “Today the track temperature was higher than yesterday and there wasn’t as much grip, so after making good progress yesterday I had to adapt to another new situation. I am still a little bit lost in the fast section but hopefully things will go better in the race if I can get in a fast group. We put on a soft tyre at the end of the session but it was no good because there was so much traffic on the track”.
ALBERTO PUIG
(Team manager): “We were able to complete the work we set out for ourselves and Dani was at a good level. He has a good rhythm for the race and fifth place isn’t bad. He got better every time he went out and has gathered good references at a track which is quite difficult and where is has never felt comfortable before. We have a few decisions to make in the warm-up tomorrow and we’ll see what happens in the race”.
LAP TIMES
- Sebastian Porto (Arg/Aprilia) 1’25”277
- Alex De Angelis (RSM/Aprilia) +a 0”158
- Roberto Rolfo (RSM/Aprilia) + 0”308
- Randy De Puniet (Fra/Aprilia) + 0”457
- Dani Pedrosa (Ep/Honda) + 0”555
- Manuel Poggiali (RSM/Aprilia) + 0”574
……
12. Hiroshi Aoyama (Jap/Honda) + 1”222