Japanese GP: Gresini Racing Friday report

SATISFACTORY FIRST DAT FOR TEAM SAN CARLO HONDA GRESINI

The threat of a continuation of yesterday's rain dissolved in the warm Motegi sunshine today and even though the circuit wasn't in ideal shape both Marco Simoncelli and Marco Melandri gathered a lot of useful information ahead of tomorrow's qualifying. Simoncelli took to the circuit with two different set-ups today and was happy that he had the right indications on a direction to take tomorrow. Melandri endured a difficult start, as has tended to be the case this season, but made some progress with the braking issues he has encountered throughout the year. More dry weather is forecast for tomorrow before the predicted rain showers on Sunday.

Marco Simoncelli (10th 1' 49" 581) "We tried a different set-up on each bike and I felt quite good with one but had problems with the other. I set a 1'49"5, which put me seventh fastest but I couldn't improve on that with the other bike. However, I am sure that by working on the set-up I felt comfortable with and by improving it a little under braking we can take a step forward tomorrow. "

Marco Melandri (11th 1' 49" 620 ) "The track was still dirty after the rain yesterday and it wasn't an easy session. We struggled in the early part because of the usual problems with braking, which is really important at this track. We managed to improve it at the end of the session and we want to try an even more radical change tomorrow to see if we can get something more positive. I hope the conditions allow us to have another day of dry track time and improve. I honestly think if it rains on Sunday we'll struggle but not in qualifying because other people will have to be more careful whereas we can afford to take a chance."

Fausto Gresini "Tenth and eleventh place is nothing to shout about but it is only the first day and we now have to work on the data gathered. We have an extra track engineer for Simoncelli so that should help us and put us in a better position to improve. Japan is always an important Grand Prix for us so we will try to do a better job with Melandri and have a positive weekend."

-source: gresini racing