Hayden and Aoyama ready to return to points battle at Sachsenring
DRIVE M7 Aspar determined to go into summer break on a high after missing out on points last time out
With no Laguna Seca on the MotoGP World Championship calendar this season the dubious honour of being the shortest track goes to the Sachsenring circuit, venue for the ninth round of the campaign, which takes place before a welcome summer break. The 3.671km layout is riddled with fast, blind corners and elevation change that ensure that what Sachsenring lacks in length, it makes up for in difficulty and technicality. With just three right-handers and ten lefts the MotoGP bikes require special, dual compound tyres for this track but whatever the conditions it will take something extra special to end Marc Márquez’s 100% winning streak for the season before he heads for a well-earned holiday.
The DRIVE M7 Aspar Team head to Germany on the back of a mixed weekend in Holland, where Hiroshi Aoyama experienced a step up in performance thanks largely to a new front suspension set-up whilst his team-mate Nicky Hayden struggled more than he expected to get on the pace. Either way, both riders showed competitive pace in the first half of the race at Assen, when the track conditions were damp, before losing positions as it dried and finishing up outside the points. Both riders know that the good handling characteristics of their bikes should suit this circuit well and they have the opportunity to head into the summer break on the back of a good result.
Nicky Hayden: “Germany is a very tight, twisty track with almost all the corners connected so there’s no time to breath and you must stay so focused for the whole lap. With no more Laguna I think it must be the shortest lap time of any track we go to so every tenth of a second is precious and you have to really claw for every tenth. At the same time it also has some very fast corners that I like and normally I enjoy this track. The race here is always very long with a lot of time spent on the left tyre edge so its important to find a setting to find good edge grip and make the tyre last on the left. On the other hand if the conditions are cool it’s very important to get heat and keep heat on the right side, particularly on the front tyre with there being only three right hand corners. I know its not exactly my best moment right now but me and the team have to stay strong and keep pushing!”
Hiroshi Aoyama: “Sachsenring is a different circuit, peculiar and special. You won’t find anything like it anywhere in the world. It is small but at the same time technical. The most positive thing for us is that with it being so small you don’t need so much power and that evens things up a little in MotoGP. I am sure we can be competitive there after doing a good job last time out in Holland, where we had a strong first half of the race. Unfortunately the second half of the race wasn’t so good but we will be working to follow up on the positives from Assen to try and be more competitive this weekend and more consistent over full race distance. I like the track and it should suit our bike well so I am sure we can have a good result this weekend.”