d'Antin: I want more from my riders.

Alice Team manager Luis d'Antin has called for 'more' from riders Toni Elias and Sylvian Giuntoli at this weekend's British Grand Prix following a tough start to the season.

So far this season, Elias' eighth place in China has signalled the team's best result, something that d'Antin admits he is disappointed by, particularly as he believed they had a bike capable of regular top ten finishes.

Nonetheless, he has faith in his riders and is expecting their form to pick up over the coming races, starting this weekend at Donington Park.

"From these last two races we were expecting much more, but 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."

Nonetheless, both Elias and Giuntoli have high hopes of a good result this weekend, not least because the tough weather conditions at this week's Barcelona test should be closely paralleled with that at Donington Park.

Elias, in particular is chasing a better performance after being embarrassingly disqualified in Spain for not serving a drive-through penalty he didn't realise he had.

"The Barcelona test was really useful," he said. "They gave us back the trust we needed. We have been fast, the only misfortune were weather conditions that didn't allow us to complete what we had planned. In Donington the weather is always peculiar: 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."

Giuntoli has other reasons to be looking forward to his 'home' race as he lives a short distance from the circuit and is excited about the prospect of being able to spend time with his family over a race weekend.

"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."