San Carlo Honda Gresini ride with new livery

Two more days of testing for the San Carlo Honda Gresini team began on Thursday with Marco Melandri and Marco Simoncelli picking up where they had left off in the last session at Sepang three weeks ago.

Intense heat put the riders through a gruelling workout and both took to the track at 10am riding their RC212V machines, decked in the new 2010 Team San Carlo Honda Gresini livery. Work focused around setting up the new Honda RC212V, in particular the suspension and electronic settings, and both riders reported positive results at the end of the session.

Marco Melandri: “It has been a very tough day but also very enjoyable. With the data from the last test we knew we were going to able to work much better from the start today and begin to reap some of the rewards of our hard work. Now I am closer to the front guys and this is an important step forward. There is obviously still a lot of work to do but the results today give us a real confidence boost. Unfortunately I still don’t have a feeling that allows me to get the best out of the soft tyre otherwise we could have gone even faster. All in all I’m happy and looking forward to tomorrow.”

Marco Simoncelli: “I am continuing the learning process in MotoGP and I am pleased to work like this, without overdoing it. My objective is to continue to improve my lap times but at the same time find a better feeling with the RC212V. Today wasn’t easy, that’s for sure, because of the heat, which everybody knows I don’t like, but I think I can be happy. I’m starting to ride the bike how I want to and how my mechanics, who like me are new to this category, want me to and we’re making progress. We learn something new every day - I know we don’t have many days left until Qatar but I am sure that by then we’ll be holding our own.”

Press release courtesy of San Carlo Honda Gresini