San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Marco Simoncelli secures pole for Assen Grand Prix – MotoGP news
San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Marco Simoncelli secured the pole position for the upcoming Iveco TT Assen Grand Prix in Netherlands to be held on Saturday, June 25, 2011.
The Italian rider has scored the second pole seat in the 2011 MotoGP season after he scored the first one in the Catalunya GP.
Simoncelli said, “Obviously I am really happy but right now I just want everything to go to plan on race day and finally pick up the result I feel myself and the team deserve.”
He stated that his RCV is though not up to the mark but still it was performing well. One of the reasons for not getting 100 percent out of the machine was lack of practice time. The first session was hampered by rain and then an oil spill in a Moto2 FP
session eventually cancelled the MotoGP FP2 session.
Simoncelli says that the bike lacks grip in a number of corners and due to short testing periods, the crew was not able to come up with perfect race settings. With all the hindrances, he was fast in the dry FP2, which was 90-minutes long ahead of the qualifying
practice.
The Italian rider will have to prove his pace in order to score his first victory of the season.
The HRC test rider, Kousuke Akiyoshi who is racing in the boots of Hiroshi Aoyama, was the last man to start the race from 17th place on the grid. He is trying hard to keep up with the fast premier class riders.
San Carlo Honda Gresini rider, Kousuke Akiyoshi said, “I am happy to be here at Assen and back in MotoGP. Obviously this track is not easy with the changeable weather conditions but I have tried to do my best and I will continue to do so tomorrow in the
warm-up in the hope of having a decent race. I want to thank HRC and Team San Carlo Honda Gresini once again for the opportunity.”
Aoyama is racing with the Repsol Honda squad as a substitute for the injured Dani Pedrosa. The Spaniard was not fit to race and was forced to miss the third consecutive round of the 2011 season.
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