NAKANO AND DE ANGELIS BOTH CONFIDENT FOR RACE IN CHINA
 Team
San Carlo Honda Gresini’s two riders qualified below
the potential positions that their race pace has suggested
in Shanghai, with Shinya Nakano sealing thirteenth place on
the grid and his team-mate Alex De Angelis to start from sixteenth.
The pair suffered from a continued lack of feel with the
qualifying tyres, although they are confident that they can
repeat their pace on race tyres from free practice and be
competitive in tomorrow’s Grand Prix.
Shinya Nakano (13th - 1.59.716): “I’m
disappointed with qualifying today because in free practice
I was fast and consistent. Unfortunately I crashed on a lap
that could have potentially given us a better grid position
– I got back on track with the second bike but I didn’t
have the same feeling and couldn’t improve my best time.
It is hard to start from the fifth row but my pace isn’t
bad so I’m confident. Now my thoughts are on tomorrow’s
race – I have to focus on getting a good start in order
to stay with the fast group.”
Alex De Angelis (16th - 2.00.316): “Unfortunately
we know that we still haven’t reached anywhere near
our optimum potential on qualifying tyres. At the moment we
haven’t got a good feeling with the new qualifiers that
Bridgestone brought here to Shanghai – the chattering
is similar to before so that’s why I’m starting
so far back. It won’t be an easy race because when you
start from so far back it is always tricky to make up positions.
In any case I will give my best – a little rain might
help us out.”
Fausto Gresini – TEAM MANAGER: “Qualifying
apart it has been a positive weekend because throughout free
practice both Shinya and Alex have shown good race pace. On
the other hand, on qualifying tyres we are still having some
problems and this is damaging our grid positions. The objective
for tomorrow is to get a good start to make up positions and
end the weekend on a high note with our best results of the
season so far.”
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