De Angelis achieves best MotoGP QP result

After impressing in the wet conditions on Friday at the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix, Alex de Angelis was on the pace all day in the dry on Saturday, holding third place in the final seconds of qualifying - before reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi usurped him by one hundredth of a second on a flying last lap.

Alex de Angelis - 4th

“Clearly I would have preferred to start on the front row but this is still a wonderful day for me. The team have worked well and so far it has been a perfect weekend. It is never easy to get near the pace of the front three but I’m enjoying riding my bike here and we have never been this close, so I’m delighted. I could have gone even faster on a new tyre at the end but we had an electrical problem and I had to roll off the gas. It sorted itself out, but by that time the tyre had gone cold and I couldn’t push. Anyway, I’ll be going on the attack in the race because this is a big opportunity for me to score a top result and to move up in the championship, with there being a small gap to the guys currently ahead of me. I have always believed I have the talent but it was good to show everybody today that when things are right I can be there.”