Czech GP: Gresini Racing Friday practice report

NAKANO AND DE ANGELIS FOURTH AND FIFTH IN BRNO FREE PRACTICE

The Czech Republic Grand Prix started off on the right foot for Team San Carlo Honda Gresini, Shinya Nakano making his debut on the new Honda RC212V and lapping fourth fastest, just a fraction of a second ahead of his team-mate Alex De Angelis in fifth. The third and final free practice takes place tomorrow morning, followed by qualifying practice in the afternoon.

Shinya Nakano (4th - 1'58''228): "I'm happy with both free practice sessions today -- this morning everything was new for me so I just focused on getting to know the bike, getting used to riding it and then in the afternoon the feeling improved a lot. Without knowing whether it will rain or stay dry tomorrow, we tried a lot of different solutions, changed the balance of the bike and fitted a variety of different tyres. I obviously found the new bike to be an improvement in a variety of areas -- the engine is more powerful and responds better in acceleration and top speed. The feeling with the chassis is better as well so overall I'm happy with the new bike. We still have a lot of work to do because we have only had today to gather data."

Alex De Angelis (5th - 1'58''264): "Despite the crash today I'm happy with my performance, especially in second practice. This afternoon we went with the tyres that give me the best feeling and I managed to ride fast for the entire session. Despite this we still have a lot of hard work to get through because the surface is new and we need to gather plenty of data to help us improve further."

Fausto Gresini - Team Manager: "It has been a positive day and I can say that Shinya has started out really well with the new bike. He is very happy with it and with this being only the first day he still needs more time to get used to it. Obviously we will keep working to make more improvements and there is certainly margin for that. Alex did well today and despite the crash he was fast all afternoon, once again showing his great potential."

-credit: gresiniracing.com