Alex Barros made a promising return to MotoGP action, after almost a year's absence, at Valencia on Wednesday - when he put a 990cc d'Antin Ducati, fitted with
Bridgestone tyres, within one-second of the fastest 990cc lap.
The 36-year-old Brazilian, who spent the 2006 season in World Superbikes after a 16-year career in 500cc/
MotoGP, will ride an 800cc d'Antin Ducati on Bridgestones in 2007 - and was using the test to understand the characteristics of the Japanese rubber and form a working relationship with his new team.
Barros completed a total of 61 laps, with a best of 1min 33.626secs and an average race pace of 1min 33.800secs. The best d'Antin lap, on Dunlop tyres, during Sunday's Valencian Grand Prix was a 1min 35.014secs by Alex Hofmann.
"Things went quite good today," said Alex, 0.94secs slower than
Valentino Rossi's fastest 990cc lap. "It was our first practice day and we began to set up the motorcycle. There are very favourable points and others which we need to work on, we're here for this. I had a good feeling with the Bridgestone tyres. Generally, the first impressions are good, but there is still a good margin to improve. My best lap time has been 1min 33.6secs and we're less than one second from the fastest time. I would say that I already have a good feeling with every member of the team, the atmosphere is really good and I like the way they work."
"We went on track with a basic set-up and Barros' lap times already are quite good," added team engineer Emanuele Martinelli. "It was our first time with Bridgestone and there is satisfaction. It is obvious that we cannot make any real conclusions as Barros never rode on the Ducati with the tyres we used during the 2006 season. For now, things are going very good. He likes the motorcycle and I can say everything began in a right way. To conclude, the first impressions are really positive and we still have one more test day at our disposal."
