Marco Simoncelli stated his clear intentions for the the eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland round with a display of dominance on the opening day of free practice at the German circuit.

The Team San Carlo Honda Gresini rider was on the pace at a circuit that he loves from the opening stages of the morning session, when track temperatures were particularly cool and claimed several crash victims. 'Super Sic' is happy with his performance today, although not completely satisfied with grip levels through the numerous left-hand corners. That will be the main focus of his and the team's work tomorrow. Hiroshi Aoyama is still searching for confidence and full fitness following his crash at Assen last month and the Japanese will be looking for more grip tomorrow as well.

Marco Simoncelli:

“Everything is going well, although I am not totally happy because we have some rear traction problems on the left side that we are struggling to resolve. It seems everybody is in the same boat, but we will be working mainly on this area tomorrow to try and improve the situation. Our other main goal is to get a clear idea about tyre choice for Sunday's race. Thirty laps is a lot here, especially because there is barely a single straight for you to relax on.”

Hiroshi Aoyama:

“I had never ridden a MotoGP bike at Sachsenring before but I quite like the track. Unfortunately, I am still in quite a lot of pain from the Assen crash, but little by little I am gaining confidence. Grip levels are not high, so we will have to try and work in this area as much as possible to make up ground and positions tomorrow.”