De Angelis: “We deserve this result for our hard work”

Last year at the Losail International Circuit Alex de Angelis crashed out on his MotoGP debut, but the San Marino rider did far better this time around as he battled throughout the race to earn a solid sixth place to start the season.

The Honda Gresini rider commenced his second premier class season ninth on the grid in Monday’s re-scheduled MotoGP race and produced a typically combative display to pick off a series of opponents, at one stage apparently inadvertently making contact with Dani Pedrosa on his charge through the pack.

Pedrosa was enraged by the incident and although De Angelis was asked to give an explanation to officials after the race he was not sanctioned.

Looking back over proceedings De Angelis commented, “I’m so happy with this result because I think we deserve it after working so hard this weekend. I didn’t get a great start but I knew my pace was okay so I just tried to stay calm, pass as many people as possible and make up positions. We knew the podium was out of reach for us here but I always felt we were capable of a top result and sixth place falls into that category.”

He added, “I was called up to Race Direction to put forward my version of the collision with Dani but there was no complaint against me so it wasn’t a big deal. This is just the start and even though we know this circuit suits my style of riding and my package, our aim is to be consistent and keep scoring results like this one.”

The sixth place result was one of De Angelis’ best in his short 800cc class career to date, having only finished higher than that twice last year with his two fourth places at Mugello and Sachsenring.

His team boss Fausto Gresini stated, “Alex did a great job. He made life difficult for himself at the start but he rode brilliantly and fully deserved the result. It was a shame about the collision with Pedrosa – I’m not sure exactly how it happened but I think it was clear that Alex didn’t do it intentionally.”