Konica Minolta keen to improve at home

Rider Shinya Nakano is only 15th in the standings, having struggling to get acclimatised to the 800cc Honda bike. Tenth places in the opening two rounds are his best finishes so far.

"This is our home Grand Prix so we really believe that we can do something good here," said technical director Giulio Bernardelle.

"To help us we are hoping again for new material from Michelin so we expect to have something important to use during the weekend.

"Let's hope that we can be nearer to the front of the pack from first practice on Friday."

Nakano is determined to take a personal step forward at the Italian Grand Prix.

"Mugello is effectively Konica Minolta's home GP for the team so I will give my maximum all through the weekend," he said.

"We know what our problem has been so far this year - I can't carry the corner speed I want, but I do believe we can do better at this race. I like the track a lot and if you find a good setting you can enjoy it.

"I won the 250cc race here in 2000 and I rate that as one of the best races in my career. So why shouldn't we aim for a good result on the 800?"

Team manager Gianluca Montiron added that Konica Minolta were making strenuous efforts to catch the frontrunners.

"After the French Grand Prix at Le Mans we organised a meeting in our racing department with our team members and we evaluated how we can improve our performance during the GP weekend," he said.

"I believe at the moment we need to concentrate our efforts to give detailed information to all our technical partners because we need to work together to find a way to rejoin the top group of riders."