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Marco Simoncelli left Holland on Saturday with a bitter taste in his mouth and the knowledge that a mistake had cost him dearly. It was possibly his first real error of the season and it involuntarily involved Jorge Lorenzo. The correct strategy would have been to wait and not doing so led to another potentially exciting race going up in tyre smoke. Another forgettable race, which started with confusion on the grid over which setting to opt for – wet or dry – which unsettled Marco. The team also accepts its own responsibility and the experience will be a valuable one for everybody involved. However, their home race at Mugello is immediately on the horizon and it promises to be another tense one as the team and “Super Sic” look to make up ground in the championship. The key will be to remain calm because the potential is there and now is the time to back it up with a result. Mugello provides a stunning amphitheatre and only the most determined performers will come out with a result. Hiroshi Aoyama returns to the fold this week after a positive experience at Assen on the factory RC212V with the Repsol Honda Team.
Marco Simoncelli: “My first reaction when I came into the box after the race, as well as bitterness and disappointment, was that I had been a fool because I could have waited. I made a mistake and it cost me dearly as well as involuntarily taking Lorenzo down too. I was sorry for him but more than that I am was for myself because I had thrown away a big opportunity. It was probably my biggest mistake of the season, I have reflected a lot on it and it will help me to grow. Now I just want to look ahead to Mugello with calmness and motivation. Everybody is expecting big things from me and I have to repay that faith with a positive result that will put recent history firmly behind us. I am fast, I have found a perfect feeling with the bike and I am extremely determined to prove it in a race. There will be a lot of fans packed around the hills of Mugello and I don’t want to, and cannot afford to, disappoint them. I love the track, it is one of my favourites and I won my first race here in 2008 in 250 before finishing second to Pasini in a great battle in 2009. I can’t wait to get back on track!”
Hiroshi Aoyama: “I tried to enjoy the opportunity to ride the Repsol Honda factory RC212V as best I could but unfortunately with the mixed weather conditions Assen wasn’t the ideal place to be riding such a demanding bike. I am happy to have had the chance though and now I look forward to returning to my team and picking up from where we left off before this brief but constructive interruption. ”
Fausto Gresini: “Unfortunately we came away from Assen without the result Marco was capable of. Marco made a mistake, maybe his first one of the season, but as a team we are all responsible because we didn’t create the right mindset for him on the starting grid. We made a lot of changes to the bike and that certainly didn’t help to create an air of calm. It is a mistake we won’t make again and it forms part of the experience for all of us. Tomorrow we head to Mugello and we have to think carefully about our home Grand Prix. The potential of Marco and the team is very high and now is the time to pick up a result that is right there on the doorstep. A home Grand Prix is never easy and there is always a certain amount of tension around but we all have to find the concentration levels to perform well. Marco deserves it, the team deserves it, the sponsor San Carlo deserves it and so do all the partners who have shown belief in this project.”
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