Catalunyan GP: Gresini Racing race report

NAKANO PICKS UP POINTS AT MONTMELO' BUT DE ANGELIS FORCED TO RETIRE

Unfortunately the 200th Grand Prix for Team San Carlo Honda Gresini was far from a happy one today, with Alex De Angelis crashing out of the race after eleven laps following a collision with another rider and Shinya Nakano repeating the eighth place finish he managed one week ago at Mugello. Despite the disappointment, De Angelis escaped injury and will be ready for the next round, which takes place at Donington Park on the 22nd June.

Shinya Nakano (9th): "Yet another difficult race and I cannot be satisfied with it, despite coming out of it with some decent points and a good lap time. It was clear the result wasn't going to be much better from the opening laps, when the riders immediately in front of me quickly began to escape. We clearly need something to help us towards better results and I think the answer could like in changing some aspects of the bike set-up so that it is more suited to my style of riding. I need to be able to ride with more aggression so that I can be fast from the opening laps and stay in touch with the riders in front."

Alex De Angelis (DNF): "I'm disappointed with the way the race has finished today. I was making up positions after a bad start and had closed in on Capirossi. Loris went too deep into the first corner and ran a little wide, so I tried to get up the inside of him. Unfortunately he closed the door on the exit of the corner and we hit each other and crashed. It's a shame because I think today was a race where we could have picked up some important points. Despite that, in general it has been a good weekend."

Fausto Gresini -- TEAM MANAGER: "I'm not satisfied with today's results. Starting from the fourth row conditioned the race for us because the start is a vital part of a MotoGP race nowadays and if you make a bad one then life can be difficult, as proved to be the case for Alex in this Grand Prix. It was one of those collisions that can happen but unfortunately it meant the end of the race for Alex, who was riding well up to then. Shinya rode another solid race but is lacking some aggression in the battle for positions and this is not the first time we've seen this. Obviously we need to improve on it before the next race."

-credit: gresiniracing.com