After a run of six conseuctive front row starts that has included two pole positions Team San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Marco Simoncelli had to settle for fourth place in this afternoon’s qualifying practice at the German Grand Prix and a second row start. “Super Sic” was edged off the front row by just 0.010 seconds and as such is confident that he can run with the leaders in tomorrow’s race. The Italian emerged relatively unscathed from a high speed crash this morning, when he suffered a blow to his right elbow. Hiroshi Aoyama is looking to tomorrow’s warm-up as he continues to search for more confidence and feeling with his bike.
Marco Simoncelli (4th 1’ 21” 954): “I am little bit disappointed today because we managed to solve our problems this morning but then took a step backwards in the afternoon. In any case I am confident because our race pace is up there with the top three and I think I can have a good race. The main problem today was that I lost my confidence with the front so I was struggling under braking and in the corners.”
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Hiroshi Aoyama (15th 1’ 23” 248): ”We tried to improve the set-up of the bike but we didn’t make any major progress, especially in the final stages of qualifying. Tomorrow we will try and find some solutions that will give us more pace in the race and allow us to make up some positions. Obviously I am still struggling from the Assen injuries so with this being a long race here at Sachsenring I hope it’s not too painful.”
Fausto Gresini: “We have worked hard and had a good day. It is a shame we missed the front row and maybe with one more lap on track we could have done it. The competition is very high and to lose a position by 0.010 second is something that can easily happen. Anyway, the second row is not so bad. Tomorrow we will work on the set-up to try and improve it under braking but overall we are pretty much ready and Marco has good race pace. Hiroshi is still struggling for feeling with the bike so hopefully he can improve.”
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