After a three week break, San Carlo Honda Gresini racers Marco Melandri and Marco Simoncelli are both looking forward to arriving back on track at Le Mans. Eighth and 11th spots respectively in the previous event at Jerez, has allowed the duo much anticipation ahead of the Monster Energy Grand Prix de France this weekend.

"Things are looking much more optimistic after the last race at Jerez and I was happy with the Test we did there on the Monday. I think my feeling with the Honda RC212V is much better compared to the first two races and we are starting to learn about the things we need to change to improve it,” says Melandri. “We’re heading to some circuits where we have no winter testing data so it will be more difficult for everybody to find a set-up. You also have to consider that the weather can be decisive at Le Mans so it is important to find a race setting as quickly as possible in practice.”

Melandri has been on the stage three times over the previous 4 seasons at Le Mans, including a second place last season. He adds, “Le Mans is traditionally my strongest circuit in MotoGP - I won there in 2006, I was on the podium in 2007 and 2009 and only just missed out in 2005 so I have lots of good memories of France. Naturally I’m not going to Le Mans feeling totally convinced we will come away with a great result but I feel confident that I can put up a fight, like I did at Jerez, but this time be higher up the order."

In his debut year Simoncelli arrives to a track with a good record, and is excited with new developments incurred on his bike over the Jerez weekend.

"I’m confident after the work we did at Jerez, especially the Test because we improved a lot under braking and that will be decisive at Le Mans. I can’t wait to go racing again and I head to France in high spirits and hopeful of improving on my race from Jerez. Maybe with a little more determination I could have finished seventh and if I could make that my objective at Le Mans it wouldn’t be bad,” he states.

“Le Mans isn’t one of my favourite circuits but I always seem to have done well there, including one of my best results of the 2007 season, a second place in 2008 and a victory last year (all in the 250cc class), so I am confident.

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Randy de Puniet’s fast adaptation to the 2010 RC212V has allowed the LCR Honda competitor to begin stronly to the year ahead. The Frenchman qualified in fourth position on the grid for the opener in Qatar and placed sixth in the event, after claiming another top six qualification and extra Championship points at Jerez with ninth spot.

De Puniet’s chief mechanic Christophe Bourguignon comments on the progress, and explains how the new restrictions of six engines per racer have changed the way the squad are approaching the 2010 season.

“It seems like we’ve been able to find a correct set-up for Randy, and after the Qatar test he seemed to feel more comfortable than the other Honda riders,” explains Bourguignon. “As a racer you always want to improve more. With these new engine rules we are kind of limited in that specific area, so we will concentrate over the next few races on further improving the rideability out of the corner with engine mapping.”

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In 2006, Dani Pedrosa had a dream - to reach the premier class of the Motorcycling World Championship with the Repsol Honda squad. He was instantly a favourite in his class, claiming second place in his initial event at Jerez, plus his first victory arrived a little later in the Chinese Grand Prix. He was a runner-up in the 2007 World Championship and placed third in both 2008 and 2009 seasons.  Pedrosa has been a leading player since joining MotoGP.

In only four years he has raced Honda's recent developments, beginning with the 2006 990cc RC211V, then over a variety of evolutions of the Honda RC212V between 2007 and 2009, right up to the 2010 version with which he competed this year.

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