Despite improving his pace from Friday Marco Simoncelli was unable to make up positions and will start the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix from the third row of the grid on Sunday. The Team San Carlo Honda Gresini rider has found a good set-up for the race but once again struggled with front tyre wear, especially on the left side. The Italian will look to improve the situation in Sunday morning's warm-up, as will Hiroshi Aoyama, who also improved his pace but not enough to move up positions.
Marco Simoncelli – 7th:
“Obviously I was hoping to do better than this because things weren't going too badly or us in the first half of qualifying. I was optimistic because my pace on race tyres was good but when we put a new rear in to chase a faster lap time the front was completely destroyed within a couple of laps and I couldn't push the bike as I wanted to. Now we will have a look at the data and do some work for the race to and find a solution that will save on front tyre wear. As I said I am still optimistic about my race pace and even though a podium will be difficult and even more so the win, we have a good chance of improving on our starting position.”
Hiroshi Aoyama – 13th:
“My feeling was a little better today but not enough to make up positions. We start from near the back again and that presents its own problems but my race pace is not too bad so I am looking forward to tomorrow.”
San Carlo Honda Gresini press release
