Aoyama battled heat and grip issues to take 11th

Hiroshi Aoyama maintained his consistent run of results whilst gaining further confidence with his RC212V machine of the Interwetten Honda MotoGP Team at Mugello, taking 11th place at the Gran Premio d’Italia TIM.

The Japanese rider showed his maturity by battling the hot conditions and some issues with grip on his bike to ride a controlled race, and repeat his placement from the previous round having battled for a top-ten finish at the Italian track.

“The race was tough and it was very hot, and a few riders crashed in these conditions. I was also close to crashing a few times and was very lucky I didn’t,” said Aoyama. “My start was quite good and I was able to stay with the group, but I couldn’t push too much because there were some riders in front of me and I couldn’t go fast.”

He continued: “From the midway point of the race I had a little bit of space and could push, but I started to lose grip a little bit and I couldn’t manage the tyres so well. From mid-race to the end I was struggling with tyre feeling and it was tough. It’s important for us to be able to finish races in these kinds of conditions.”

The result at Mugello leaves Aoyama 13th in the Championship standings on 18 points heading into round five at Silverstone.