MotoGP Silverstone, Qualifying: Simoncelli “I feel ready to fight for both the podium and the victory”

Marco Simoncelli's fantastic weekend continues at the Silverstone circuit. Improving further compared to yesterday, he closed in on Casey Stoner and was constant and consistent in his race pace. The expectations for the great result are many and certainly more concrete than on Saturday in Barcelona. The feeling with the Honda RC212V is excellent and the only variable, at the moment, is dictated by the uncertain weather forecast, tending towards rain. In any case, "Super Sic" feels ready in both conditions to dispel the taboo of his first podium in MotoGP. Hiroshi Aoyama also fared significantly better than yesterday, finding greater confidence with the bike and managing to better interpret the Silverstone track.

Marco Simoncelli (2nd 2' 02” 208) “I'm definitely happier here at Silverstone with second place than in Barcelona where I took pole position. In Spain I had a good lap but in terms of pace I wasn't as fast as this weekend in all the sessions and today with the hard tire I managed to lap in the top 2'. It's all very positive. Now, clearly, we will need to understand what the weather conditions will be like tomorrow, but I feel ready to fight for both the podium and the victory in both dry and wet conditions. I'm confident and I hope I can achieve my first really important goal of the season. ”

Hiroshi Aoyama (11th 2' 04” 919) "I went definitely better than yesterday, the position on the grid isn't excellent but today I had more confidence with the bike. We made some changes that turned out to be positive and I was able to interpret the track better. I hope to improve my lap time again tomorrow and have a good race. Clearly everything will be conditioned by the meteorology which predicts nothing good."

Fausto Gresini “Marco immediately felt comfortable on this track and the team did a great job. Yesterday we were in difficulty in the fourth sector and today we made a significant improvement. A second half and a front row that transmits confidence and a remarkable race pace. I see Marco very relaxed compared to Spain and this is another positive aspect, the HRC guys and technicians have done a positive job and therefore there are all the conditions to achieve the great result. Aoyama also did well, yesterday in difficulty on a circuit of which he has a bad memory due to last year's crash and today he is decidedly more confident and I am confident that he can have a good race and continue his process of integration into MotoGP in such a positive way . ”

Gresini Racing team