Simoncelli and Aoyama in second and third row at Aragón

The San Carlo Honda Gresini riders, Marco Simoncelli and Hiroshi Aoyama, will start tomorrow’s race from the second and third rows respectively, after qualifying sixth and ninth at the Motorland Aragón circuit.

For “SuperSic” it has been a good session overall, although he still has work to do if he wants to be up with Stoner and Pedrosa, the fastest riders today. The Italian hopes to be in a position to at least fight for the podium. For his part, Aoyama qualified ninth, which gives the team hope of achieving a great result.

Statements from Marco Simoncelli:

I’m sure I could have gone faster, but on my best lap I came across Pedrosa riding slowly after leaving the pits. It was a shame, because since then I couldn’t improve on the soft tyre after making a couple of mistakes.

If we manage to get a couple of changes to work well, we could be with the two fastest riders to fight for the podium tomorrow. We’ve improved the grip we had yesterday, but I think we still have all the same problems.

Our biggest struggle is fuel consumption, and we have to do something about it before the race, since it could be a problem tomorrow. I have great faith in my mechanics and I’m sure they will end up fixing this.

Statements from Hiroshi Aoyama:

I’m very happy with ninth place, since it’s my best grid position of the entire season. We’ve improved the bike compared to the morning practice and we had very good feelings.

The race will be a different story, but I’m sure it can be a good race for us. Now I’m only thinking about the race, about making the right decisions together with the team, especially with the heat forecasts for race time.

Statements from Fausto Gresini:

Overall it has been a positive day and perhaps Marco could have finished higher up if he had had a clean lap. It wasn’t meant to be and it’s a shame because Sic is sure to be able to run with the guys at the front and fight for the podium.

Hiroshi has also done a good job by starting from his best grid position of the year, and he is improving little by little. If he believes in his ability, he can have an excellent end to the season.

Source and photos | San Carlo Honda Gresini