Mugello MotoGP: Marco Simoncelli vows to avoid mistakes

Marco Simoncelli has vowed to cut out the big mistakes that have made him public enemy number one in 2011, as he goes in search of his maiden MotoGP podium on home soil tomorrow.

Simoncelli will start the Italian Grand Prix from third place on the grid after he finished just 0.006s behind Assen winner Ben Spies and 0.451s behind world championship leader Casey Stoner after a rain-affected qualifying session this afternoon.

Simoncelli clocked a best time of 1.48.485 to claim a place on the front row of the grid for the sixth successive race, yet he’s still not broken his premier class podium duck.

And the controversial Italian says his first target in tomorrow’s race is to make it to the chequered flag after his first lap blunder in Assen seven days ago.

Simoncelli crashed on the opening lap and took out factory Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo, who then launched another scathing attack on the San Carlo Gresini Honda star.

He has been the subject of more criticism too this weekend from Dani Pedrosa, who is back in action for the first time since he broken his right collarbone in a collision with Simoncelli during the French Grand Prix at Le Mans.

Simoncelli said: “The important thing is to do a good race and not make any mistakes. I’m calm and I have no problem with all the discussions. Seeing a lot of people support me here in the track is unbelievable and I’m so happy and I will be happy tomorrow if I do a good result in the race. Today the practice was so strange because at the beginning it was dry but in every part of the track you can see on the screen some small water. I need to believe the track was dry but I wasn’t sure. I got a good lap time and I am happy and confident for tomorrow.”