With Shinya Nakano's consistency and Alex de Angelis' potential, Team San Carlo Gresini are confident of showing off these traits at Assen.

Team San Carlo Gresini Racing think they are capable of challenging in the higher echelons of the top ten at this weekend's Dutch Grand Prix in Assen following a solid run of form recently.

Leading the charge on the Honda has been Shinya Nakano, whose run of top ten finishes in seven of the eight races so far this year has placed him tenth overall in the standings.

However, it is Alex de Angelis who has been attracting the lion's share of the attention recently following his outstanding ride to fourth place at Mugello. While only one point has followed since then, that 15th place finish at Donington Park did at least come following a fall early in the race.

Indeed, de Angelis is believing he has top six pace in him now and after a strong 250 ride around the Netherlands circuit last year, he thinks he can show that this weekend.

"Last year I had a great ride at Assen on the 250, producing a strong comeback after a bad start and setting some really fast times. Obviously I've never been there on a MotoGP bike before so I'll have to learn it all over again but we're in good form.

"I feel confident heading to Holland: we've actually been making great progress lately. We've reached a level of competitiveness that allows me to fight consistently amongst the top six and I hope that continues at Assen."

Team manager Fausto Gresini is also placing plenty of faith in the young San Marino rider and is hoping Assen represents this.

"Alex is growing with every race and I'm convinced he will continue to do so because he is proving himself to be a top level rider - we never doubted it," he said.

"Unfortunately he's had some bad luck lately and ended up with results below our expectations but Assen is an immediate opportunity to make up for it and I also think that Nakano will find that little extra bit that he is missing to fight with the very best."

Meanwhile, Nakano is looking forward to revisiting the venue of his best ever MotoGP result, that coming in 2006 when he finished second on a Kawasaki.

"Assen is another very unique circuit layout, which is difficult to grasp, but I like it a lot. I recorded my best ever result in MotoGP there with second place two years ago. The key to being competitive will be to find a setting that allows me to be effective in the fast corners.

"I think that if we can manage to continue on the same path we were on last weekend at Donington, where I felt comfortable and had fun on the bike, we can definitely have a say."