With San Carlo Honda Gresini having already signed Marco Melandri and Marco Simoncelli for next season, Alex de Angelis and Toni Elías are both free agents for 2010 at present – and both are seeking to confirm their futures as soon as possible.

De Angelis currently sits eighth in the standings after 13 races of his second season in the premier class and after his maiden MotoGP podium at Indy he was even up to seventh place - before a costly and heartbreaking first lap crash at his home Grand Prix at Misano.

That accident has not helped his negotiating position, but his excellent form in the races leading up to his home event sent out a reminder to the rest of the paddock of his riding ability.

 

“I’m trying to remain in Moto GP, or if not then I will go to Superbikes,” De Angelis told motogp.com. “For the moment I’m in contact with all the teams who have not officially finalised their rider line-ups for next season, so that means Scot Racing, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 and Pramac Racing. My aim is to find the best team, without preferences, though obviously if I ride a Honda machine I won’t be starting the learning process from scratch again as I’m accustomed to the bike.”

In an interesting development, De Angelis could yet end up riding for a newly formed MotoGP team in 2010, as he explained, saying, “I’m also in contact with a new team, FB Corse, who called me to see if I am available for next year, but we are still at a very early stage of contact with each other.”

In conclusion he added, “I’m sure that by next week there will be some movement and I would like to confirm my plans in Portugal. My intention is to ride in MotoGP but I have some very important Superbike offers. For now, I do not intend to ride in the Moto2 class and even though I have received some Moto2 offers there was nothing too concrete. We’ll see how everything works out from here.”