Italian GP: Gresini Racing qualifying report

BEST GRID POSITIONS OF THE SEASON FOR TEAM SAN CARLO HONDA GRESINI AT HOME RACE

eam San Carlo Honda Gresini enjoyed their best qualifying practice of the season so far at Mugello today, with Shinya Nakano and Alex De Angelis both securing grid positions in the top ten during the hour-long session. The Japanese rider will start from the outside of the third row in ninth place, just ahead of his team-mate. The day started out in positive fashion, with the final free practice taking place on a damp but drying track. De Angelis showed great pace in race trim as he lapped fourth fastest, whilst Nakano was not far behind him in seventh.

Shinya Nakano (9th - 1.49.095): "I'm satisfied with the way it's gone today -- not so much for the result itself but because of the progress it shows we are making on qualifying tyres. It was very important for us to improve in this area because we have suffered a lot during the opening few rounds. Today, though, I felt a notable improvement with rear grip and that's positive also for the future. According to the weather forecast it's going to be even hotter tomorrow so it will be important to judge the race conditions well. In any case I'm confident because other than the crash yesterday it's been a positive weekend so far."

Alex De Angelis (10th - 1.49.145): "Today went really well -- tenth place is our best grid position since the start of the season -- although we know there is still plenty of work to do on the qualifying tyre. Aside from that I was really pleased with the 1'50"6 I did on race tyres, completely on my own and without a slipstream. That bodes well for the race tomorrow. In the warm-up we'll try to refine a few small details and try out a couple of things we haven't had chance to look at already because of the limited dry time during practice."

Fausto Gresini -- TEAM MANAGER: "Today was the best qualifying practice of the year for both our riders and that's a positive sign. Shinya produced a really brave lap on a qualifying tyre -- particularly considering the heavy crash he had yesterday. It shows that Nakano has not lost faith in himself and he is trying to prove a point. It is a shame that Alex made a small mistake in T1 during his best lap because he could have gone even faster but he still has a decent grid position for tomorrow and we can look forward to a good race from both our riders. Mugello is the first home race of the season for our team and we're looking forward to it."

-credit: gresiniracing.com