MotoGP – Sachsenring QP1 – Loris Capirossi 8th, Carlos Checa 11th

The Ducati Marlboro Team riders Loris Capirossi and Carlos Checa took eighth and eleventh place respectively on the compact starting grid of the German Grand Prix, which sees twelve riders within six tenths of a second.

During qualifying tests, a bad highside which occurred at the exit of the fastest corner of the German circuit prevented the Spanish driver from obtaining a position on the starting grid suitable for the race pace he demonstrated. After a spectacular flight, Carlos and his Desmosedici slipped almost to the end of the descent but the rider, fortunately uninjured, immediately returned to the pits to make the most of the last minutes of the timed session aboard his number 2 bike. Pole position for Nicky Hayden, followed by Sete Gibernau and Alex Barros.

“We can be positive for tomorrow's GP – said Livio Suppo, Ducati MotoGP project manager – In race trim Carlos achieved a series of laps in 1' 23 and also carried out good endurance tests. Loris is also satisfied with the new Bridgestones, we are happy with the progress made by our partner. We would have expected better qualifying, but Carlos crashed in the most dangerous point of the circuit: he made a good flight but the most important thing is that nothing was done. Loris did a good job: he is just three tenths behind the leader but the times of many of the riders are so close that unfortunately he is on the third row”.

Loris Capirossi was unable to hit the front row of tomorrow's starting grid (eighth time), but he knows he is competitive in race trim.
“I did about fifteen consecutive laps with race tires and I can say that we are in pretty good shape – commented Loris – With the first qualifying tire I went fast while with the second I had some problems. Finally I also found traffic on the track, so I wasn't able to improve.
The race will be difficult, thirty laps is a long time and there are many riders all close together, but I'm confident for tomorrow, things could go better than usual.
A dry race would be more fun for everyone, but if it were to rain I wouldn't worry because we've seen that the Bridgestone rain tires are effective. The start will be very important: here starting from the front straight away will be fundamental."

Carlos Checa's spectacular crash during his fastest lap unfortunately contributed to confining the Spanish driver (with the eleventh fastest time of the afternoon) to the fourth row of the grid for his 150th start in the premier class. Fortunately uninjured, Checa is still confident in his fast pace with race tyres.
“It hurts a little. the bottom but everything should be fine – said Carlos – Along that descent with qualifying tires you can happen to lose traction. This time the rear suddenly turned and, even though I tried hard, I couldn't control it. It was a nice flight, but luckily I'm fine.
For tomorrow I'm confident: unfortunately we're not starting from an excellent position, but with race tires I have a really good pace and I intend to use it to gain as many positions as possible straight away."

Ducati Press