Friday Aug 18 2006
Free Practice - Brno

Ducati Marlboro Team rider Loris Capirossi made a rapid return to the racetrack today following MotoGP's month-long break, posting the third fastest time at hot and sunny Brno. Team-mate Alex Hofmann was 15th, riding in place of Sete Gibernau who has been forced to miss this race following further surgery to the collarbone he broke at June's Catalan GP.
Capirossi worked hard throughout the day to find a set-up that would allow him to get the best out of his Desmosedici, and although he believes there is more to come tomorrow, he is delighted because he was up front even though he didn't use qualifying tyres. The Italian's pace - no one was faster on race tyres today - puts the team in optimistic mood for Sunday's race, round 12 of this year's 17-round World Championship.



LORIS CAPIROSSI, 3rd fastest, 1m 58.028s
"I thought it would be easy to find a good set-up up here but it's not been like that, so I'm not totally happy. We started this morning with what we thought would be good settings but the bike wasn't easy to turn and we lacked traction. This afternoon we made a lot of changes, especially during the last 20 minutes when it seems we found a good solution. After we made those adjustments I did one lap with a used tyre and then went out with a new race tyre and went very fast. I'm happy, because while I don't know what tyres the other guys used, I only used race tyres. We have a very competitive bike with great potential but it's not always easy to find a set-up that allows me to fully exploit its performance. Anyway, I'm doing my best and I know everyone at the factory is working really hard. Now we have a good set-up here we will spend tomorrow working to find the perfect race tyres."

ALEX HOFMANN, 15th fastest, 2m 00.507s
"I felt pretty good today. After the break I was just happy to be back on a bike and even happier because it's the Factory bike! We got up to a decent speed straight away but right now my race pace isn't enough, although Loris was only half a second faster until he tried a different tyre and went much quicker at the end of the session. Our set-up is okay but the tyres I tried today didn't give me the feeling I wanted and I struggled with wheelspin, which is unusual here. So I am really looking forward to tomorrow when Bridgestone will open the truck and give me more tyres to try. I feel like I've got a lot more to come here."
Afternoon session temperatures: Ambient: 27 degrees. Track: 36 degrees