De Angelis joins Interwetten Honda

From motogp.com

Interwetten Honda MotoGP has confirmed that Alex de Angelis will ride as a substitute for Hiroshi Aoyama while the Japanese rookie recovers from a fractured vertebra, and the San Marinese rider will be on board the satellite RC212V from the next round at Sachsenring.

Honda test rider Kousuke Akiyoshi has been filling in for Aoyama for the rounds at Assen and, last weekend, Catalunya, while the team has conducted its search for a longer term solution. In De Angelis it has secured the services of a rider with two seasons of MotoGP experience on a Honda, and who is currently competing in the Moto2 category for RSM Team Scot.

An agreement was reached between the two teams at Catalunya, after HRC made a request to RSM Team Scot, and upon Aoyama’s return to racing De Angelis will return to ride for the Moto2 team for the remainder of the 2010 season.

"This is a very good chance for me and I am very happy,” said De Angelis. “It is a great team and I can make a return to MotoGP thanks to this opportunity. I will compete for four or five races and have enough time to improve the settings and my feeling for the bike, so it is possible to have some good results, even though it will be very difficult.

"I will do my best not to disappoint the team. I like all the tracks that are coming now and had success on each of them and I am looking forward for this new challenge."

Interwetten Honda MotoGP Team Owner Daniel M. Epp said: "This replacement solution is satisfactory for everybody. I want to underline that of course I look forward to welcoming back Hiroshi when he is fully recovered, at the latest in Aragón in September, but as the team's work has to go on I am also happy that with Alex we have an experienced and powerful Honda rider.

"He has already shown in Indianapolis, for example, last year what he is capable of achieving. He knows all the tracks that are coming up now and I expect a lot from him."