Hopkins rides fastest two-stroke Yamaha.

The two youngest riders in today's Moto GP session, Red Bull Yamaha's Hopkins and Hofmann, had a solid first qualifying aboard the fastest two stroke Yamahas. Coming home in 10th and 12th positions respectively the young guns finished ahead of many experienced Moto GP riders and both are confident that tomorrow they can do just the same, if not better.

The two youngest riders in today's Moto GP session, Red Bull Yamaha's Hopkins and Hofmann, had a solid first qualifying aboard the fastest two stroke Yamahas. Coming home in 10th and 12th positions respectively the young guns finished ahead of many experienced Moto GP riders and both are confident that tomorrow they can do just the same, if not better.

"We tried a combination of different settings in the session today and we improved a little bit each time," said Hopkins. "We're working towards a good race set-up and using the information from our recent test here to put together something special for tomorrow and race day.

"I feel like I'm really strong coming off the back straight away out of the left/right and I'm making up time there every lap. It's easier to change direction quickly there on the 2 stroke so I'm passing guys there with ease.

"We put on a some good tyres in the last few minutes and that?s when I got my best time.

"I improved from this mornings time by almost a second and I'm putting in faster times today then when I tested here, so that?s a good effort."

Colin Davies, Race Engineer for John Hopkins: "We tried a lot of different things in this session and it took John some time to get use to all the chassis changes we were making. We've got a few things to work on tonight but I'm confident that we'll find the best race settings before Race Day."

"I'm really happy with this result and I'm feeling very comfortable on the bike this weekend," said Hopkins. "The set-up is how I like it now and the bike feels really good and smooth. My rhythm here on this track is good and I'm finding a good line around the track. I'm very happy with the tyres we used in this session also, great qualifying tyres.

"The third row position is great and I'm in front of many experienced riders like Nakano, Gibernau and Jacque so I'm pleased."

Christophe Bourguignon, Race Engineer for Alex Hofmann: "Everything went to plan this afternoon for Alex and the crew worked really well. We've already got our basic settings for the race and we already have an idea of the tyres that we will use for the race."

"It was a good practice session for both guys today," said team manager Peter Clifford. "I'm particularly pleased with Alex's 12th place. "We must thank Dunlop for helping us to be the fastest 2 stroke Yamaha's but then the guys still have to ride the motorcycles."

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