The final round of the 2006 season of the MotoGP World Championship will be this weekend on the Spanish track of Ricardo Tormo at Valencia. It is the 17th race for the MotoGP class and the Team PRAMAC D’ANTIN MOTOGP will be racing at home. The Team is really motivated and will make the maximum to end the season in a positive way. For ALEX HOFMANN, the aim is to conquest the “Top Ten”, after the good result obtained in Portugal; while JOSE LUIS CARDOSO, wants to get more points, on a track he knows very well. The first free practice session will be on Friday 27th October at 10:00am. LUIS D’ANTIN (Team Manager): “After a very difficult season, it’s already the last race of the championship. We’re at home here in Spain and this situation motivates us all even more to make a good result. Our aim is to enter in the first ten riders with Hofmann. He made a good race at Estoril and we will try to make something better here in Valencia. We will also make our best to allow Cardoso to get more points as well. For this race, many sponsors and friends will be present and it will be our task to satisfy them”. ALEX HOFMANN #66: “After the race at the Estoril, I would like to repeat the good result I made there, to end the season in the best way. I will go to Valencia very motivated, to make a good race and get some more points. My team deserves it, it has been a very difficult year for everyone of us. I think that this will be a very nice weekend, this is the last race of the championship and there are still two titles to assign. The atmosphere in this circuit is always very spectacular, it seems like a football stadium and the I like the track, it is very nice for us riders but it is also one of the best for the spectators as they can see the whole track from any grandstand. It really is the most adapted circuit for the final of the World Championship. Last year, I went back to race here at Valencia, after my injuries In Japan and this is a track I’ve always liked a lot”. JOSE LUIS CARDOSO #30: “An event at home is always faced with a lot of emotion and I’m really motivated to make a good race in front of all my sponsors and friends. Valencia is always a special appointment for everybody, this is a big party and to race in these conditions is really beautiful. I can’t wait to go on track and make the first free practice, I know this track very well and this will allow us to work even better. With my Team we will try to make the maximum to conquest more points for the classification. It is the last race of the season and I would like to end it in the best way”. CIRCUIT DETAILS The circuit of the “Comunitat Valenciana” is situated at Cheste in the province of Valencia, Spain. It was terminated and inaugurated in 1999, the year in which it already hosted its first Grand Prix and the first competitions of the Spanish Championship. The Grand Prix will take place on a track long 4,005km that has 5 right corners, 8 left corners and a straight of 876 metres. The track is quite mixed and privileges the riding more than the power. Even though the circuit is quite small, the principal structure hosts 48 pit-boxes and the long grandstands around that track, as in a stadium, can contain more than 150.000 spectators. The Valencia circuit is not as the traditional ones and was designed, still following the security rules, nearly completely for the spectators. The view is incredible, the whole circuit can be seen from any grandstand. The idea was from Jorge “Aspar” Martinez that dedicated this fabulous track to Ricardo Tormo, one of the best Spanish riders of all times. This year, the atmosphere of the circuit will surely be very special, it will be a great party as the appointment is for the last race of the calendar. Longest straight: 876m Width: 12-13m Pole Position: right Direction: anticlockwise MotoGP – Circuit Record: 1’33.043 (Marco Melandri – 2005) MotoGP – Fastest Lap: 1’31”874 (Sete Gibernau – 2005) 2005 MotoGP Race: 1. Marco Melandri (Honda) 2. Nicky Hayden (Honda) 3. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha)