A NEW BIKE, NEW TYRES AND A NEW COLOUR SCHEME: THE GRESINI HONDA TEAM FACES THE START OF THE SEASON WITH RENEWED ENTHUSIASM. After a long series of winter testing overseas, the MotoGP comes back to Europe for the last appointment before the start of the championship, on the 10th of March in Qatar. From tomorrow to Sunday all MotoGP teams will be back on track at Jerez, in Spain. The countdown is over. Everything is in place for a fresh, exciting challenge. The Gresini Honda Team unveils the new bike with the new colour, ready for another exciting season. FAUSTO GRESINI, Team Manager and Team owner: ” For 2007, with the motorcycles warming up already, we’re facing a double-edged technical challenge: the 800cc era has got underway and we’ll be tackling it on the back of the Bridgestone-shod RC212V. We’ve got a solid team made up of two young racers we have absolute faith in and who show great promise. There’s Marco Melandri, world championship runner-up in 2005 and a major contender last year: with 5 wins and 12 podiums on our bike, he has been one of the main world title hopes over the past two years. We’ve won a lot together but we are aiming to go even higher. Marco has shown that he’s a very talented rider, capable of amazing feats, who packs a powerful punch and has the will to win. We’re proud that the project we set up together with Honda in 2005 is still going strong and flying our colours. This is the jewel in our crown that we’re counting on in the title challenge. Now in his second year riding a Honda in our team is Toni Elias. Confident as we are of his potential, our goal is to develop this young man’s talents even further and hopefully he’ll carry on making the most of his trademark determination, as he did last year when he was rewarded with his first MotoGP victory at Estoril, the culmination of a race he dominated in true champion style. Our partnership with the multi-award-winning manufacturer, Honda HRC, which has always supplied us with highly competitive bikes, allows us to shine with a starring role in the top class. We have once again got the support of major companies. Some have been with us for many years and along with their products they have helped us achieve our best results. Others have joined us this year, enthusiastically becoming part of the heart-thumping world of motorcycling. We are proud to be so closely associated with Honda Italia and its ever-passionate and professional attitude to competitions. Our partnership with them has been long and fruitful. We are glad to welcome Bridgestone as our new technical partner. We have great faith in this partnership, which is based on a key strategic decision. We are determined to garner impressive results together. MARCO MELANDRI: “I look forward to start a new season. I like a lot my new bike, in particular the rolling chassis. I’ve got faith in the potential of the Honda-Bridgestone package. We’ve got everything we need to compete at the top end of the championship. I feel well supported by all our partners. I’m very confident in our potential. I want to have fun and get my revenge” TONI ELIAS: “I’m very confident, for me it was very important to keep on working with the same team, the same chief mechanic and all the guys. There is still a lot of work to do but I’m very confident. The win in Portugal gave me a major boost. My goal is to feel that amazing sensation again and to do battle with the main players every Sunday”.