Satisfying comeback for Aoyama

Hiroshi Aoyama marked his return to competitive action with a 12th-placed finished at Indianapolis on Sunday, as the Japanese rider rode in his first race since Mugello at the start of June.

The Interwetten Honda MotoGP Team rider spent nine weeks out of action after fracturing a vertebra in a warm up crash at Silverstone, and after testing at Brno in mid-August Indy was marked down as his comeback GP.

Starting from 13th on the grid the 2009 250cc World Champion battled the hot conditions as he regained his feel for his RC212V in a race situation, and was happy to be back racing again after his lengthy lay-off.

"In the conditions here at Indy it was quite hard to finish the 28 laps,” explained the 28 year-old. “I had to fight on every single lap. I was able to stay with the other riders, but didn't want to take any risks. I had to find a compromise between not pushing beyond my limit and still having a good race. I’m sure we can be better when I’m 100% fit again, and I’m looking forward to that a lot.”

Team Manager Daniel M. Epp was impressed with Aoyama’s display and is looking forward to the next stage in the rider’s development at Misano this weekend.

"Hiro did a good job this weekend,” he said. “He was able to race the whole race distance. Of course he needs more time to be fully fit again and physically more confident. He already showed in qualifying with his fast lap times that he is on the right path. The team hit its target this weekend and I am looking forward to continuing in the same direction in Misano."