Round 9 of the MotoGP championship will officially kick off tomorrow at Sachsenring and the championship has now reached its halfway point and it will be two tough weekends for the teams who’ll have to face the German GP and immediately after that U.
S.
Grand Prix, before the summer break.
Yamaha will be looking to win a third consecutive race after Assen with Ben Spies and Jorge Lorenzo at Mugello, Loris Capirossi is returning after missing Assen and Mugello, Valentino Rossi will have to do without Jeremy Burgess again, who is still at home with his recovering wife and the weather forecast says sunny and humid for the German GP weekend.
Here’s what the teams, except for LCR Honda (Toni Elias has to step up his game) and Cardion AB (Karel Abraham will probably be getting a lecture from Casey Stoner on towing etiquette) say about the track and their expections.
Casey Stoner, 1st – 152 points:“I’m looking forward to going to Sachsenring, it’s a circuit where we’ve enjoyed good results in the past few years.
The track is very tight and technical so it demands a different style of riding and we also need to set the bike up in a different way.
It’s pretty tough on tyres as the majority of corners are long left handers so the wear on the left hand side of the tyre is quite significant.
It takes a lot of work to get a good set up in order to have a good pace for the race distance.
I really enjoy this race, the atmosphere is amazing and the countryside is beautiful.
We’ve always been pretty fast there and I’m sure with the Honda we can be competitive”.
Jorge Lorenzo, 2nd – 133 points:“I feel very good after our victory in Mugello; an amazing victory that we needed for our confidence.
We’ll take more power from it for future races, especially for the next two in a row.
Now it’s time for Germany; Sachsenring is a unique track which I’ve ridden since 2002 and still not won! I would like to do it, it’s an interesting challenge in front my German fans.
The team and I are ready to again try to reduce the gap to Casey, our aim is the podium, but we will try to push for the win.
”Andrea Dovizioso, 3rd – 119 points:“We arrive in Germany strong and competitive.
The second place in front of the Italian crowd at Mugello gave us an extra boost to continue working and improving race after race.
The post GP test at Mugello was an important occasion to fine tune the set up of the bike and try a new swing arm.
We had good feedback so we arrive in Germany with a good base and I think we will use the new swing arm as the feeling was positive and lap times came easier.
I enjoy going to Sachsenring, it has a good atmosphere and there are always a lot of spectators.
However, as a circuit it is very different from Mugello, it’s a quite short racetrack, with a very slow first section followed by a very fast second half.
We will work hard from the first practice session, as we did in Mugello, this is very important to prepare the machine for the race.
I’m very motivated, we are third in Championship and we want to continue gaining important points for the season”.
Valentino Rossi, 4th – 91 points:“At Mugello we started working with the setup in a direction that we had never tried before.
We used it Sunday in the warm-up, so we weren’t able to spend much time on it.
The bike worked better in the race than it had in practice, but we still need to do more experiments with these settings, so at the Sachsenring we’ll see if they might be a good starting point.
The track is tricky in some spots, but it’s a circuit that I like.
Last year I returned to racing in Germany after the injury to my leg, and it was a nice race.
We hope the weather and temperature will be good because we need to work on the setup as much as possible before the race.
”Nicky Hayden, 5th – 77 points:“Sachsenring is a tight, scrappy little track, but it’s one I quite like.
It’s got the shortest lap time the whole year apart from Laguna, but it’s a long race, and we’re on the left side of the tire for much of the time.
There are a lot of big left-handers, which I always enjoy, and I’ve had some good results there.
The thing that sticks out for me is that it’s almost two parts: the first bit is really tight and slow, and then the last bit is really fast and open, especially with what they call the Waterfall corner, which is fifth-gear, downhill and blind.
That’s about as good as it gets, and I’m not sure there’s a better corner on the entire calendar.
”Ben Spies, 6th – 74 points:“I’m really looking forward to the next two races.
I got on pretty well at Sachsenring last year; the end result didn’t reflect how good we were.
I think if qualifying had not been so incident filled we would have started closer to the front.
We are in pretty good shape right now with the team, the bike is feeling really good, I’m feeling confident on it and the results are showing it.
Of course afterwards we head to my home race in the US and I get to run the red and white colours again!”Dani Pedrosa, 7th – 69 points:“The last race in Mugello was good because after a long time without racing, I saw that I haven’t lost the ability to go fast.
I have to regain fitness and this week I have worked hard.
I’ve always had very good races at Sachsenring and it’s good to get to a track where you know you can do well.
Contrary to Mugello, Germany is all almost left hand corners and this must help me.
Last year, we had a great race there and hopefully we can do a good job again during practices, hope nothing goes wrong and come out with a good chance for the race”.
Hiroshi Aoyama, 8th – 56 points:“After the experience at Assen on the factory Repsol Honda Team RC212V I struggled a little bit to get a feel for my Team San Carlo Honda Gresini machine at Mugello.
To complicate matters I was still in a lot of discomfort from my crash in Holland but I gradually got back on the pace and with the help and dedication of all the guys on the team we came out with a satisfactory result.
The test on the following day was much more positive with a view to Sachsenring.
I actually missed the race there last year through injury so I have to go back to my 250 days for my last experience there.
I was on the podium in 2005 and won the race in 2007 but the difference between 250 and MotoGP is too big to predict what kind of feeling I will have for the track with this bike.
”Colin Edwards, 9th – 53 points:“The last two races haven’t been that fantastic but we can point to a bad tyre choice in both for that.
We’ve got to take some responsibility for that but sometimes you roll the dice and gamble but the result doesn’t go your way.
That’s all behind me now and I’m just concentrating 100 per cent on getting a good result in Germany this weekend.
This track is pretty special with so many left-hand turns but our chassis is much better than last year, so I’m sure the bike will be easier to ride in the tight and twisty sections.
The break after Mugello has really helped my physical condition.
I’ve been able to get some good rest and the muscle damage around the r ibs on the right side of my body isn’t as painful as it was.
I’ll only understand how much of an improvement there’s been on Friday when I get on the bike, but I’m expecting a lot less discomfort than in Mugello where it was quite tough.
Aside from 2003 when I had the fireball at the bottom of the hill, I’ve really enjoyed my time at Sachsenring.
The German fans are really knowledgeable and they love MotoGP, so hopefully we can put on a good show for them.
I’ll be looking for a good result to take some momentum into my home race at Laguna Seca, which is a huge weekend for me and one I’m already excited about.
”Marco Simoncelli, 10th – 50 points “Mugello was definitely a positive weekend with a positive end result although I wasn’t completely satisfied.
It was important to get to the end of the race without any dramas and put the misadventures of Silverstone and Assen behind me.
The test on Monday was also positive – we tried some solutions that could help us overcome the problems we had in the race at Mugello, where I seemed to struggle more than the others with a loss of grip due to the increased track temperature.
Overall the visit to Mugello has given me confidence and motivation for the next round in Germany.
Sachsenring is a circuit I like a lot, I have always been fast there in 125 and in 250, in fact I won the 250 races there in 2008 and 2009.
Last year I had a good race in MotoGP, battling for fifth place.
My objective is to do my best along with the team and try to improve on the result from Mugello.
”Héctor Barberá, 11th – 44 points:“We put on a good show last year in Germany so I hope to at least equal that.
Both the race in Italy and the test on the following day were very good for us and we have turned the difficult situation we were going through around.
Now I go to Sachsenring with energy and enthusiasm – we are ready for the next Grand Prix.
The track is quite well suited to my riding style and even though it is short is has some fast and flowing corners.
I like the track and tend to be quite fast there so now we have gone back to a setting that works everything comes easier, so I hope that continues this weekend.
Our objective as always is to be amongst the leading Ducatis.
”Cal Crutchlow, 14th – 32 points:“Like a lot of tracks so far in 2011, I haven’t seen this one before but it looks really good on TV and I can’t wait to get started on Friday.
The track is obviously dominated by left-hand turns but I’m not worried that is going to be a big problem for me.
The left collarbone I broke at Silverstone last month is fine and I’m happy with the progress it is making.
After all the weather disruptions of the last few weeks, I’m just hoping for a dry weekend so I can learn the track quicker.
And I’m also hoping for hot conditions because that will give me an opportunity to solve some of the front-end issues I’ve been experiencing lately.
When the temperature is hot I’ve had some issues with front-end feeling, so hopefully some hot weather will give us the perfect opportunity to find a solution.
I’m confident I can be running back inside the top ten and getting the results I know that the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team is capable of.
”Álvaro Bautista, 15th -30 points:“I cannot wait for the race to come – it will not be soon enough for me! I made some really big steps at Mugello in both the race and the test.
We now have all that info to use at Sachsenring and the rest of the tracks this season.
I think we are capable of running with the top-six or seven at most tracks now and just need a little bit of something to get us there – I don’t know if it’s luck or what it is, but we will keep trying until we find it! I like the Sachsenring circuit and I’ve been on the podium there three times.
It is not an easy track to get the bike set-up right for, but when you do it’s great fun to ride at.
It’s about a lot of edge grip, so we will have to work on that and get the bike set-up as quickly as we can.
”Loris Capirossi, 16th – 22 points:“I’m still not completely well, but I have a couple more days of physical therapy to recover a little more.
Getting back on track will be positive, but my goal is to be back to 100% for Laguna Seca.
Missing the race at Mugello was very difficult for me, and it affected me a lot.
Now I want to turn the page and return to the track.
Only I ride my Desmosedici.
”Randy De Puniet, 17th – 12 points:“I like the Sachsenring circuit, despite the fact that I still have a bad memory from last year, when I fractured my tibia and fibula.
I think that the track’s characteristics might match well with those of our bike, so I’m confident that I can do well.
We worked hard at last week’s test.
I hope that the results will be positive.
”
Leave a Reply