Japanese GP: Gresini Racing qualifying report

CONTRASTING EMOTIONS ONCE AGAIN FOR SIMONCELLI AND MELANDRI AT MOTEGI Team San Carlo Honda Gresini's two riders encountered contrasting fortunes once again in qualifying practice this afternoon, with satisfaction on the face of Marco Simoncelli ...

CONTRASTING EMOTIONS ONCE AGAIN FOR SIMONCELLI AND MELANDRI AT MOTEGI

Team San Carlo Honda Gresini's two riders encountered contrasting fortunes once again in qualifying practice this afternoon, with satisfaction on the face of Marco Simoncelli but disappointment on that of Marco Melandri. "Super Sic" could have been even happier but he ran out of time to improve his best lap at the end of the session. Melandri, meanwhile, had to contend with a slight fever as he continued to battle the set-up problems that have dogged him all season.

Marco Simoncelli (8th 1' 47" 914) "I managed to do a quick lap at the end. It was a shame the flag came out because I could have taken another couple of tenths off and moved up to the second row but in any case we're in good shape for tomorrow's race and all we have left to decide is the tyre choice. To be honest we still have to work out why I am losing so much time in the final section -- maybe we need to look at the electronics and see if we can get a little extra acceleration out of the corner and I also need to check my approach to the three corners in that section. "

Marco Melandri (12th 1' 48" 238 ) "Another difficult session with the same problems as the whole season. We haven't found a solution and we need help from Honda if we are going to get over this. I also had a little bit of a fever this morning but thankfully the doctors at the Clinica Mobile made sure I was fit to take part in qualifying. My big hope for tomorrow is that we get some bad weather, which should shuffle the pack."

Fausto Gresini "Simoncelli put a good lap in at the end and it was a shame he didn't beat the chequered flag because he would have improved still further if he had time for another. In any case we are happy because we have seen another improvement and that is important ahead of tomorrow's race. Hopefully we can have another good race even though we're not quite ready yet to run with the front guys. Melandri had a disappointing session but his race pace isn't so bad. He wasn't feeling well today and that didn't help but I think he has taken a small step forward in comparison to the past few races and I think he can have a decent race tomorrow."