Yuki Takahashi - Photo Credit: Gresini Racing
Gresini Racing Moto2 riders Yuki Takahashi and Michele Pirro were both satisfied with their opening day's running at the Valencian Grand Prix, despite the wet weather causing difficulties.
Takahashi was 13th overall with the morning times staying unbeaten as a result of the deteriorating weather conditions in the afternoon. The Japanese rider wasn't worried with his overall position on Friday and feels the team are exactly where they want to be.
“I am satisfied with my feeling with the bike and confident we can look forward to a good race on Sunday. We have improved with every change we made today so I think we are on the right track to a positive result.”
Teammate Pirro was eighth fastest on the sister Moriwaki and also felt happy with his day's work. The Italian qualified on the front row two weeks ago in Malaysia and while he stopped short of predicting a repeat, the 25 year old feels there is scope for improvement tomorrow.
“The uncertain track conditions and rain today did not make life easy but overall I must say I am pretty happy. We need to take another step forward with our pace but I think we can manage that with just a couple of small changes. We have a few things to sort but I am confident.”
The mood in the Gresini garage was understandably sombre following the death of Marco Simoncelli two weeks ago at Sepang and both Moriwakis are running special tribute liveries this weekend (above), something which Team Manager Fausto Gresini is immensely proud of.
“The Moto2 team’s tribute to ‘Super Sic’ was something we had to do and the “Race your life” graphic is very nice. I hope that we can add to it with some good results that pay tribute to Marco. Both Pirro and Takahashi are pushing hard and I am sure they will give their best on Sunday.”
