AT Brno Marco Simoncelli finally made it to the podium taking third and a finish that has chanced the opening of a door to extending his contract with Honda.
HRC look set to choose Simoncelli after the dilemma faced by Honda from a need to downsize its factory effort from four riders to three for next year. Honda have been forced to reduce their MotoGP budget by up to 30% for 2012 after a loss of revenue, a result of the tsunami and earthquake that hit Japan in March.
Gazzetta dello Sport are reporting that an extension offer is on the table, with a few requirements yet to be finalised. Of those is the stipulation that Marco part ways with his current technical crew, a team that has worked with him since his 250cc championship win on the Gilera in 2009 - a prospect that doesn't please the Italian.
Simoncelli told the Italian media outlet: "I'm open to reinforcements, but changing the crew completely is not right. After two years where we've improved together, it would be strange to break it all apart when it's time to reap the fruits.
"We'll see in Indy, and I hope to be as optimistic as I feel now. I'd like to go back home with a clearer situation, because it would be important to have a decision, even if it's not the proper contract yet, by Misano."
The move would see an already relegated, from the Repsol team, Andrea Dovizioso dropped off a factory RC213V. Dovi is attached to a transfer to the LCR squad and running on a privateer machine for him would be a 'step backward' and speaking to GPone the Italian said that if this would be the case he would consider looking elsewhere, including Tech 3 - adding another candidate to the swelling options for the Yamaha team.
