Simoncelli shines in Qatar FP1

The San Carlo Honda Gresini rider was fourth fastest in FP1 at Losail on Thursday, with coworker Hiroshi Aoyama 12th.

Marco Simoncelli carried his preseason form into the first official session of the MotoGP World Championship this afternoon in the surreal surroundings of the Losail circuit. The Team San Carlo Honda Gresini rider was fast and consistent and worked intensely throughout a satisfactory 45 minutes to find an improved set-up for his machine. It was a optimistic evening for Hiroshi Aoyama even though he was further down the time sheets, the Japanese rider clearly working on the right lines with his team and set-up, which will hopefully lead them to a better position tomorrow.

Marco Simoncelli (4th 1’ 56” 441):

“I am really happy because it is always hard during testing to know exactly where you are but that changes when things get serious and we are able to make more a real analysis. I am satisfied because we struggled to get the hard tyre working during the tests but we found amazing tonight. It may be that the conditions are somewhat different but it is an important step towards making our choice for the race. We managed to make two changes to the set-up that better things further and now it is just a case of confirming what we already know and getting ready for Sunday. In universal I am feeling confident.”

Hiroshi Aoyama (12th 1’’ 56” 987):

”This was the first sitting of the season s o I was keen to do well. We in progress work on finding the best set-up for Sunday and the best feeling with the bike, working from what we learned in testing. We also tried to get closer to a decision on what tyre to use for the race. The conditions are improved than they were in testing and tomorrow we will try to improve on today's position, which is in fact not that significant because our focus for the day was not specifically on the lap time.”

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Dani Pedrosa: Rossi is Rossi…

Dani Pedrosa says Valentino Rossi can never be inexpensive as a title contender, despite the somewhat unpromising start to the seven-time MotoGP world champion's career as a Ducati rider.

Rossi finished the first pre-season test of 2011 in a modest 11th position overall, while Pedrosa – jointly with Honda stablmates Casey Stoner and Marco Simoncelli – have been in the middle of the main pace setters.

Despite this, Pedrosa is refusing to get rid of Rossi from the equation of title challenger, maintaining the Italian has the aptitude to turn things around in time for the start of the new season.

“The great unknown amount will perhaps be Rossi,” he said in his latest blog. “It's his first year with Ducati and in Malaysia he wasn't amongst the fastest riders. But Rossi is Rossi, and you can not at all rely on anything. Even when he's in last place on the Saturday he still has the ability to surprise.”

Additionally, Pedrosa is wary of reigning champions Yamaha, pointing out that and Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies carry on to display the most convincing race pace.

“Right now the Honda RC212V seems to be performance well. We'll see what happens when we get to the first GP of the year, because the whole thing could change there. You never know, but at the instant everything points towards a tough World Championship.

“The Yamaha continues to have a good rhythm lap upon lap. Lorenzo, as the defending Champion, is a rival to beat, and Spies had a huge season in 2010 and will certainly be better this year.”

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Recap 2010: Gran Premio d’Italia TIM

MotoGp's comprehensive summary of the fourth round of the season at the Mugello Circuit offers you the chance to re-live the best of the action, with easy one-click access to the video highlights.

Mugello played host to the World Championship on the first weekend of June as round four called on the beautiful Tuscan countryside, and with the weather remaining fine throughout the three days it was an eventful stage in Italy.

The official pre-event saw some World Championship riders attempt to make a traditional Italian pizza, although their dough skills failed to match up to their abilities on board a motorcycle! The serious business began later that afternoon as a quintet of the MotoGP stars – Nicky Hayden, Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Andrea Dovizioso and Marco Simoncelli – attended the pre-race press conference as anticipation for the race grew.

The time for talking was soon over as the on-track action commenced and it was reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi who took control of the opening practice session, setting the fastest time as Casey Stoner experienced a difficult start to the session.