Elias And Guintoli Full Of Confidence After Barcelona Test
Jun 19, 2008
Weather conditions haven’t surely helped the test done on the Montmelò circuit, in Barcelona, last Monday and Tuesday, but despite this the Alice Team riders, Toni Elias and Sylvain Giuntoli, are trustful to be able to fight for better positions in the next world championship appointment at Donington, England. The two riders, in fact, have sensibly improved their best lap time registered during the race on the same circuit by a second, finding interesting solutions to use in the next races. The Spanish rider is looking for redemption after the distraction in his home race, in Barcelona, where he didn’t see the “jump start” sign and therefore disqualified. His teammate, Sylvain Guintoli, will have many motivations to do well also because the English circuit is really close to where he lives, not even thirty-minute drive.
The characteristic English circuit which was built in 1931, present a mixture of fast corners and really slow corners, like the last two that precede the final straight, where in case of battle in the last lap, anything can happen. In the past years on this circuit the Alice Team riders haven’t been so lucky: last year Toni Elias has concluded in twelfth position while his teammate didn’t make it to go further than the sixteenth position. The duo has all intentions to improve.
Alice Team Principal, Luis d’Antin, is expecting a strong reaction from his riders: “From these last two races we were expecting much more, but is from the beginning of the season that we are not showing our real value. It’s now time to make a change and fight as hard as possible for better positions. Since the beginning of the season I thought that with the technical package at our disposal we could easily be in the top ten in every single race. From now on I want more from my riders. I believe in their potential and I am sure they will give us good performances from this race weekend. They are working with people that have a lot of experience in the racing world and I am sure they will find the solution to get out of this situation.”
Catalan rider Toni Elias is still disappointed on how his home race finished and is motivated for the next MotoGP round: “Barcelona test were really useful. They gave us back the trust we needed. We have been fast, the only misfortune were weather condition that didn’t allow us to complete what we had planned. In Donington the weather is always particular: it can change at any time, but we are now used to it as this season we have found similar atmospheric conditions at almost every Grand Prix.”
It will be a particular race also for the other Alice Team rider, Sylvain Giuntoli, who will spend a strange weekend of race at home: “It’s true, I live really near to the circuit and every day I can go back home with my family to relax. I think it’s a really special thing for the job we do. For sure to stay with your own family is the best to get pumped up for the race. I really like this track, I didn’t race much here, but I think is a nice circuit with many points where you can attack and overtake your opponent. Barcelona test went really good. Now we have to be able to use in the best way possible the work done there and conquer as many points possible for the World Championship classification.”
