Contrasting fortunes for Simoncelli and Melandri at Indy

Contrasting fortunes for Simoncelli and Melandri at Indy

The rookie placed seventh and was pleased with another promising result in his debut premier class campaign, as his more experienced team-mate suffered the disappointment of crashing out early on.

Marco Simoncelli was satisfied with another solid display on Sunday as he finished the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix in seventh position. The San Carlo Honda Gresini rider has now achieved six top-ten results in his debut campaign and continues to impress with his continued progress on the RC212V.

"It was such a tough race - similar to Malaysia in that if you tried to push like you did in practice you could easily end up on the ground,” said the Italian of the sweltering conditions that made grip on the hot track a major factor.

“I am quite happy with the result even though I would have liked to finish higher up, but hopefully that will come soon. I had a good fight with Bautista and was pleased to hold him off in the end. Apart from Spies I finished ahead of the other rookies so that also gives me a lot of satisfaction,” concluded Simoncelli, who in ninth position in the overall standings is the second highest rookie behind the American.

For team-mate Marco Melandri it was a less successful day as he crashed out on lap two when pushing his way up the order. The 28 year-old became the youngest rider to make 200 GP starts across all categories but was left to count the cost of a front-end problem.

"I am really disappointed with this race,” said Melandri. “We improved our pace a little but like always I was struggling so much in braking and couldn't get the bike stopped. I wasn't happy to just settle for the position I was in and wanted to attack Valentino but lost the front without any warning on the way into the corner. We've spent all season trying to fix the same problem and don't seem able to find a way around it."

The team now head to Misano this weekend where both riders will be aiming to impress in front of a home crowd.


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