SO CLOSE BUT SO FAR FOR HOPKINS IN CATALUNYA
11 June 2005 - Suzuki Racing

Team SUZUKI MotoGP racer John Hopkins was less than a second from pole position after today''s qualifying session for the Gran Premi Gauloises de Catalunya

Suzuki''s young star found himself back on the third row for the start of tomorrow''s race. Hopkins (P11, 1''43.291) was only 0.954 of a second behind home favourite and pole-setter Sete Gibernau and only 0.3 seconds away from a second row start.

Hopkins was disappointed with his final qualifying place: ''I''m gutted to be 11th. We''ve been in the top-ten all weekend and I don''t feel that I got the best out of the bike.

''The team are trying to console me by saying if I was a fraction of a second quicker I would be on the second row, but I need to get good qualifying positions to get away with the front-runners early on.

''The Suzuki GSV-R has improved this weekend, that''s another step in the right direction. We still need more but it''s good to see the Factory understands the way we need to go.

''I''ll now put this qualifying behind me and get on the bike tomorrow and give it 100 per-cent for the race - as I always do.''

Kenny Roberts Jr (P13, 1''43.787) will start tomorrow''s Catalan Grand Prix from the head of row five. Roberts Jr and his crew used this morning''s free practice to further work on the new engine development parts for the Suzuki GSV-R and confirm some race settings.

Roberts Jr said: ''I tried everything I could. I''d liked to have been a bit quicker but as ever the qualifying tyre situation doesn''t really tell the race story.

''The Factory has made a good step this weekend with the new engine parts. But we need that step to be made significantly larger in order to get the best out of the GSV-R and compete on level terms.''

Team SUZUKI MotoGP Manager Paul Denning was full of praise for both his riders: ''A great effort again by both the guys and to see them in 11th and 13th places really doesn''t do them or their crews'' justice for the amount of work they''ve put in.

''John got into some traffic on his final qualifying run and aborted the lap, but unfortunately there wasn''t enough time to put in another tyre before the end of the session. So we don''t know what might have been. He''s very disappointed but as a Team we are not disappointed in him for his efforts.

''Kenny is not a huge gap away from John on qualifiers. He''s been working hard on set-up and is consistently in the low 44''s on race tyres. I hope he will get a decent improvement in tomorrow''s race after the disappointment in Mugello.''

Team SUZUKI MotoGP - who this weekend announced a one-off title partnership deal with Red Bull for the USGP - will be racing in the Gran Premi Gauloises de Catalunya from the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona in Spain at 14.00hrs CET on Sunday 12th June.

Gran Premi Gauloises de Catalunya Qualifying Practice Classification

1. Sete Gibernau (Honda) 1''42.337: 2. Marco Melandri (Honda) +0.053: 3. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) +0.386: 4. Max Biaggi (Honda) +0.419: 5. Nicky Hayden (Honda) +0.510: 6. Loris Capirossi (Ducati) +0.655: 7. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) +0.772: 8. Carlos Checa (Ducati) +0.792: 9. Alex Barros (Honda) +0.822: 10. Makoto Tamada (Honda) +0.870: 11. JOHN HOPKINS (TEAM SUZUKI MOTOGP) +0.954: 13. KENNY ROBERTS JR (TEAM SUZUKI MOTOGP) +1.450:

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