De Angelis signs new Gresini deal

Added on Wednesday, September 10th, 2008 by Carole Nash Editor | No Comments

Alex de Angelis penned a new contract with San Carlo Gresini Honda yesterday, tying him to the factory Honda outfit for 2009.

The San Marinian rider has exercised the option for a second year with the Gresini outfit after impressing in his debut season and is expected to line up alongside Shinya Nakano in 2009.

After joining from the 250cc class at the start of the season, where he finished third on two occasions behind now MotoGP riders Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso, the 24-year-old has achieved some highly encouraging performances since making the step up to premier class.

After a slow start, retiring in round one in Qatar, the rookie slowly found his feet in the Championship to record fourth-place finishes in Italy and Germany as well as an eighth place finish in Brno three weeks ago.

Those results have left De Angelis thirteenth in the championship although unconfirmed speculation has suggested that he could join teammate Shinya Nakano on the faster 2009 prototype Honda before the season is out.

The new contract will also provide a welcome confidence boost for De Angelis, who failed to finish his home Grand Prix two weeks ago, ahead of this weekend’s inaugural Indianapolis Grand Prix.

“I’m happy to be racing at a new circuit like Indianapolis,” said De Angelis. “I think that so far I’ve shown that I’m able to learn circuits quickly with a MotoGP bike. The fact it is new to everybody will definitely be a bonus for me given that the other riders won’t be able to take advantage of their superior experience.

“Of course there are a thousand question marks over how the tyres and bike will work there but I’m confident. From the information I’ve been given the track sounds quite twisty in places so I hope it suits the Honda, which is really effective in tight sections.

“In the post-race test at Misano we took a step forward with the qualifying tyres and I tried something new, which gave me better feeling, so I’m confident that this weekend I can improve my starting position.

“Hopefully we can have a good weekend and make up for the disappointment of my home race, where I’d shown in practice that I had the pace to fight for a better finish”.

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