Marco Simoncelli worked relentlessly in the torrid heat of Montmeló today to find a good set-up for his Honda RC212V, which features a modified chassis provided by Honda. The Italian is still some way off finding the ideal feeling for it but has some clear ideas about how to improve tomorrow. There was a positive and welcome return to the track for his team-mate Marco Melandri following his crash at Assen one week ago. The Italian started out tentatively as he checked his physical condition before working on the set-up of the bike.
Marco Simoncelli (10th 1´ 44” 634) “That wasn´t bad but it could have been much better. I still haven´t found a good feeling with the bike and I have a few problems with the front on entry and rear grip on exit. Overall I am confident even though I know we have a lot of work to do tomorrow. There isn´t one particular point on the track where I am struggling - there are a few areas where we´ve having those entry and exit issues, so if we can make general improvements to the stability of the bike under braking and find some more grip on the rear then I think we can take a big step forward.”
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Marco Melandri (14th 1´ 44” 806) “From a physical point of view I feel quite good. I tried to get a feel for how strong I was over a couple of laps and the shoulder reacted well - the pain was bearable even though I was pretty tired by the end of the session. I am satisfied with it even though I´m struggling a little through the direction changes, which is where my sternum is a problem too. We´ll see tomorrow when I get up how stiff I am. Anyway, another day on the bike tomorrow will help me as we try to improve ahead of the upcoming races. The bike isn´t bad, we´ve got a good base set-up but now the most important thing is how I feel on it.”
Fausto Gresini “Overall today didn´t go badly. Simoncelli tried a modified chassis and got a good feeling from it even though he needs to set it up more. He set some good lap times straight away and tomorrow he´ll do some more work on refining the set-up, so I am confident about the weekend ahead. I´m happy to see Melandri back - I honestly thought he´d be in worse shape on the bike. He is quite close to the lap times set by the others even though he´s struggling for fitness. Right now he needs to get strong again and we can´t ask for any more from him than that, although I´m sure he´ll take another step forward tomorrow.”
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