Bautista will hit the track today for the first time on the bike.

Fausto Gresini:
“I am particularly satisfied that Alvaro Bautista will ride a Honda RC213V in the colours of Team San Carlo Honda Gresini next year. He is a very fast rider and I also hold him in high regard for his personality and pleasant nature. I am sure that he will integrate swiftly into our group and that we will enjoy some pleasant experiences together in the future.”

‘Super Sic’ will challenge Casey Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo for victory tomorrow at his favourite circuit, despite suffering his third crash in as many sessions at turn ten this morning.

Hiroshi Aoyama’s confirmed this weekend that he would be leaving the MotoGP paddock to join Ten Kate Honda in World Superbikes for next season. Aoyama suffered a crash in the qualifying session and managed a 12th place finish, just ahead of Valentino Rossi.

Marco Simoncelli (3rd 1’ 30” 599)
“I am really happy because it has been a while since we started on the front row. We have been fast over the past two days although we have had a few crashes too. The day didn’t start well because of the conditions, which were cold and windy, and that made it difficult. This afternoon we managed to do a better job and enjoyed an excellent qualifying session so my goal tomorrow is to push to the maximum from the start. Stoner looks untouchable at the moment but in racing you can never say never!”

Hiroshi Aoyama (12th 1’ 31”” 889)
”Unfortunately when I went out to improve my position on the starting grid I crashed at turn six and that compromised the whole session. It was a violent impact and I decided not to go back out because I didn’t feel in the best shape. The cold and wind did not help us to work as we wanted today but even though I had more confidence yesterday the set-up is not bad. I hope the weather improves tomorrow so that I can have a good Grand Prix.”

Not a huge surprise this one – Marco Simoncelli and Gresini Honda have confirmed that they will extend their existing contract into 2012, and Simoncelli will get a factory Honda RC213V machine and all the technical back-up required to keep him at the front of the grid.

He has proved that he has the speed, all he has to do now is bring the bike home consistently on race day.

Fausto Gresini:
“I am really happy to announce that Marco will be back with Team San Carlo Honda Gresini in 2012. Over the past two years together we have been able to appreciate Marco’s qualities as a rider, as a man and as an extroverted communicator, which made us keen to continue our collaboration. Obviously in order to make this possible we needed a lot of effort from our sponsors, who have shown such belief in this project and I am grateful to them. HRC are going to offer a general level of support that will be very important as well as making a factory RC213V factory available to Marco. Al l this gives us great pride and is a testament to the close relationship we have built with the Japanese factory over fifteen fruitful years of partnership. Marco’s huge determination will give us all a lot of motivation ahead of what promises to be an exciting new season.”



Marco Simoncelli:
“To be wearing the colours of Team San Carlo Honda Gresini for another year and riding a Honda RC213V gives me a lot of satisfaction. To be kept on as part of project that Honda HRC are so supportive of in collaboration with Team San Carlo Honda Gresini gives me a lot of confidence and all the motivation I need to show that I can be amongst the best in MotoGP again. 2012 will be an important season for me and I want to give all those people who have believed in this project plenty to get excited about.”

Marco Simoncelli (4th)
“I am pleased with this result – we had to grit our teeth and I’m sure that even without the mistake I wouldn’t have been challenging for the podium anyway. Lorenzo was faster than me on used tyres so no complaints there. I didn’t get a great start but I managed to get into my rhythm quickly and make some passes to get up to third place. From the tenth lap onwards the tyres really dropped off and then again after another five laps, although Spies was in even worse shape than me so I was able to fight back to fourth.”

Hiroshi Aoyama (11th)
“It was a nice race and a fun battle with Rossi and Crutchlow. The final position isn’t great but I am happy with the way I rode in difficult conditions, with much less grip than yesterday which made it tough. Valentino, Cal and I passed each other a few times and it was great fun. Now I am hoping to put up a much stronger performance at our home GP.”

Simoncelli faces a balancing act in this race – he needs to translate his raw speed into solid results, and finishing off the podium will be unacceptable. However, he faces the added challenge of finding a balance between the criticism he has been receiving from other riders about his riding style and calls for him to calm down, and the enthusiasm of thousands of frantic Italian race fans who will be urging him on for an all out win.

Simioncelli’s electrifying start to the season has meant his profile is bigger than ever, and with Valentino Rossi languishing outside the top 10 with little hope of victory, the expectations of the Italian fans has fallen on to Simoncelli’s shoulders. Should be interesting, whatever happens.

Marco Simoncelli (3rd 1’ 48” 485)
“I am on the front row and I am happy with that. Maybe I could have made a challenge for pole position but it had started to rain and I preferred to back off. I was actually improving my lap time about halfway through the session when I saw a few drops on my visor and with a lap time already in the bank I decided not to risk it. It was a tough session because you had to trust the grip even though there was water on your visor. Everything is pretty much sorted with the bike, my pace is good and tomorrow I will try to do the best I can. I hope we have a dry race and not conditions like today. I want to stay calm because everything is in place for us to do well so I just need to pay attention at critical points. They say it’s hard to sleep here at Mugello but I like the atmosphere and to be honest it actually helps me sleep, even though I would really like to be out there with the fans.”

Hiroshi Aoyama (13th 1’ 50” 156 )
”It was a tricky session because of the conditions and unfortunately I wasn’t able to find the right feeling with the bike, so hopefully we can do that in the morning and gain the confidence to push in the dry conditions. My physical condition is also a bit of a problem because I am still not fully recovered from the crash at Assen.”

Fausto Gresini
“A sixth consecutive front row is a very positive result. Today wasn’t easy but Marco showed that he is in splendid form. Tomorrow won’t be an easy race because I think there could be five riders with a chance of winning but Marco has a good pace so he’ll be amongst them. ‘Sic’ is happy with his bike and the changes made to it despite a lack of dry track time and we will try to improve it further in the warm-up. Hiro is still hurting from the crash at Assen and doesn’t quite have the right feel for the bike. We will try and give him some confidence ahead of the race.”

This time, Simoncelli has stated that he was too rash in his enthusiasm today and tried too hard to get past Lorenzo at the earliest possilbe point.

Marco Simoncelli (9th)
“In this race you can’t put it all down to bad luck, but the truth is that I was very naive. It was the first left hander, the asphalt was cold and, although I don’t think that I went in too hard to get past Lorenzo, I felt that I couldn’t hold back because I was third and close to the front two. There was time though, and I could have waited. I am unhappy to have caught Lorenzo up in my crash and can only apologise to him. The only consolation, small as it is, is that I was able to pick the bike up and finish the race and put down some good times – despite having parts and pegs missing from the bike and the back of my helmet digging in. It is another bad experience for me and I am going to try and bear it in mind, without losing focus and motivation.”

Kousuke Akiyoshi (13th)
”It has been a fantastic experience for me and I thank HRC and everyone for this opportunity. Thanks also to the guys at Team San Carlo Honda Gresini who worked really well with me.”

Fausto Gresini
“What a shame. The first left turn is always dangerous and the same thing happened here as in Estoril. It is a shame, because we were looking really good and capable of a great result. The move should have been held back for another couple of corners perhaps, and now our date with the podium has to wait once again. We are not angry, but the first person to be annoyed is Marco and we are all going to stick together. We want him to get out of this situation, because his motivation is as high as ever.”

Video of Simoncelli’s crash with Lorenzo:

Stoner had dominated for much of the session, but Simoncelli managed to record a 1m 42.413s time on his second to last lap of the session.

Jorge Lorenzo also left it late, managing to claim third position after a late charge saw him bump Ben Spies down to 4th Position.

Valentino Rossi managed to take his best ever qualifying position so far on a Ducati by taking 7th, and Alvaro Bautista was notable for getting Suzuki in the top 10 for the first time this season in a qualifying session by taking 9th.

Karel Abraham suffered a lowside crash at the very start of the session and walked off with an injured wrist – fortunately he was able to re-join the session later and was deemed fit to race. Tomorrow’s grid is already depleted with the absence of Colin Edwards and Dani Pedrosa, and losing another rider would have stripped it down to only 14 starters.

MotoGP Qualifying times from Catalunya:

1 Marco SIMONCELLI San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’42.413
2 Casey STONER Repsol Honda Team 1’42.429
3 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha Factory Racing 1’42.728
4 Ben SPIES Yamaha Factory Racing 1’42.742
5 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Repsol Honda Team 1’42.749
6 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’43.202
7 Valentino ROSSI Ducati Team 1’43.223
8 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1’43.228
9 Alvaro BAUTISTA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’43.447
10 Hector BARBERA Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP 1’43.656
11 Hiroshi AOYAMA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’43.734
12 Randy DE PUNIET Pramac Racing Team 1’43.764
13 Loris CAPIROSSI Pramac Racing Team 1’44.068
14 Toni ELIAS LCR Honda MotoGP 1’44.510
15 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 1’45.661

After being penalised with a ride through penalty after his crash with Dani Pedrosa at Le Mans, and being bollocked by Honda executives after the race, Simoncelli now faces being hauled in front of race direction at this weekend’s MotoGP at Catalunya.

Race direction issued a statement saying:
“The Race Direction will call Italian rider Marco Simoncelli during the Catalunya Grand Prix this week, to further discuss the incident during the MotoGP race at the French Grand Prix in Le Mans,”

I guess the challenge for Marco will be to try and remain calm and not let this inglorious start to the weekend disrupt his mind and cause him to act petulant and take out his frustration on the track. I think all fans would like to see Simoncelli finish a race and see what challenge he can give to the front-runners over race distance.

Unintentional as the collision was, Simoncelli will find himself, and his riding style under the magnifying glass once again.

Simoncelli felt it was a ‘racing incident’ and that his telemetry data backs up his assertion. He also claims that his ride-through penalty was the result of the recent complaints about his riding style. Here is what he had to say after the race:

Marco Simoncelli (5th)
“I am unhappy about what happened, because a result that was within my reach was denied and above all because of the fact that Pedrosa is hurt. In my opinion the incident went like this: Pedrosa was having a bit of difficulty –I had pulled alongside him and passed him on the previous three laps. When he passed me back I was not intentionally trying to resist, and my telemetry shows that I got on the brakes at the same point as on previous laps. I think that he had hit the brakes well before the corner, and I found myself on the outside of him and in front on the entry to the corner. I didn’t want to back off, so I left him with a metre between myself and the kerb in order to go in. I saw that it was tight, so I tried to adjust my position. That was when he touched my back wheel and went down. I repeat that I am unhappy about it, and I want to avoid any controversy regarding penalisation, but I believe that my ride through was a result of all the talk over the past few days. Now I have to focus on Barcelona.”

Fausto Gresini
“I believe in the good intentions of our riders. This was a racing incident that could happen at any time, and in which Marco had passed Pedrosa. I think he was not responsible for causing the accident. We are obviously very displeased, above all with the fact that Dani is injured. It wasn’t intentional, and I think that all the controversy beforehand has fanned the flames of an unpleasant situation. Marco really deserved a podium and second place. Unfortunately, for various reasons it didn’t happen, but we will make that our goal for Barcelona. Aoyama did well and continues to pick up points and make progress.”

Marco Simoncelli will be looking for redemption in Estroril, after suffering the frustration of crashing out of a commanding lead at the last race at Jerez. Despite his personal disappointment in the last race, Simoncelli is confident that his team and the bike has what it takes to secure his first race win and he has high hopes for Estoril this weekend.

This is what Simoncelli, Aoyama, and team boss Fausto Gresini had to say about this weekend’s action in Protugal:

Marco Simoncelli
“I still have a bitter taste in my mouth from Jerez. I was having a great race and the crash obviously wasn’t what I wanted, it was a real shame. I know I will have the chance to make up for it though because I know I am fast and have a good feeling with a competitive bike. I have made progress and so have the team, we are getting on better and better and I am sure we will soon be celebrating together because everything is in place. It has been a long break and I have had time to go with my friends and ‘finish off the ski season’ before getting into some serious training ahead of Estoril. I had my best result of last season in Portugal and just missed out on the podium so this time I want to be on it. I like the track a lot, I won there in 250cc in 2009 and was on the podium the previous season. I am confident we can have a good weekend.”

Hiroshi Aoyama
“The result at Jerez was an important confidence boost for me. The conditions were particulary difficult but I managed to keep things under control from lap to lap. My only regret is that I was a little too careful with my overtaking in the early stages of the race otherwise I could have been on the podium but overall I am happy. Apart from a crash in the dry we established a good feeling with the bike and that gives me high hopes for Estoril. I have stayed in Europe over the break and just trained hard for the next race. Estoril is not an easy circuit because of the unpredictable weather conditions. The wind is a real problem and unexpected rain showers can make things really difficult. Hopefully this weekend it stays nice.”

Fausto Gresini
“After the race at Jerez I am more convinced than ever that Team San Carlo Honda Gresini have two riders capable of giving us a lot to celebrate in 2011. Honda have given us a competitive bike and both Simoncelli and Aoyama are very determined. Marco was unlucky in Spain but he showed his potential. Now he is ready to fight with the best riders in the class and a top result is around the corner. He has made huge progress along with his crew and he’s going to be fun to watch. Hiroshi was solid at Jerez and he managed the conditions very well to bring home an important result. It is a confidence boost for him and he will also soon be amongst the frontrunners in MotoGP. The whole of Team San Carlo Honda Gresini is calm in the knowledge that we can be fighting for top results every week. It is a return to the good old days for us and we now have the enthusiasm to go along with the professionalism we have always shown.”