FIM MotoGP World Championship Sachsenring, Germany July 19, 2009 Race Results (all on Bridgestone tires): 1. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha), 30 laps, 41:21.769 2. Jorge LORENZO (Yamaha), -0.099 second 3. Dani PEDROSA (Honda), -2.899 seconds 4. Casey STONER (Ducati), -10.226 5. Alex DE ANGELIS (Honda), -21.522 6. Toni ELIAS (Honda), -30.852 7. Marco MELANDRI (Kawasaki), -31.301 8. Nicky HAYDEN (Ducati), -31.726 9. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha), -32.865 10. James TOSELAND (Yamaha), -43.926 11. Loris CAPIROSSI (Suzuki), -57.375 12. Niccolo CANEPA (Ducati), -60.539 13. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki), -63.645 14. Mika KALLIO (Ducati), -64.155 15. Gabor TALMACSI (Honda), -1 lap 16. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Honda), -5 laps, DNF, retired 17. Randy DE PUNIET (Honda), -30 laps, DNF, crash MotoGP World Championship Point Standings (after 9 of 17 races): 1. Rossi, 176 points 2. Lorenzo, 162 3. Stoner, 148 4. Pedrosa, 108 5. Edwards, 83 6. Melandri, 70 7. Dovizioso, 69 8. Vermeulen, 64 9. Capirossi, 61 10. De Puniet, 58 11. TIE, De Angelis/Elias, 47 13. Hayden, 46 14. Toseland, 45 15. Kallio, 28 16. Canepa, 20 17. Sete Gibernau, 12 18. Yuki Takahashi, 9 19. Talmacsi, 1 More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Points salvaged from a painful weekend for Rizla Suzuki Rizla Suzuki racers Loris Capirossi and Chris Vermeulen both battled against injury to race to the chequered flag at Sachsenring in Germany today, earning themselves valuable championship points in the process. Capirossi took a gamble on the harder compound Bridgestone race tyre, but he wasn’t able to get it up to optimum operating temperature and struggled to get the best feeling from his Suzuki GSV-R around the 3,671m German circuit. He eventually brought his Rizla Suzuki home in 11th place, a result that moves him up one position in the riders’ championship. Vermeulen was still in a huge amount of pain from the hip and shoulder injuries that he sustained on Friday. He got a good start, but struggled in the early laps to brake hard enough and was relegated to last place. He fought back and even after running off the track, he managed to pass one rider on lap 10 and kept up the hunt – recording his fastest lap of the race on lap 27 of 30. Vermeulen fought all the way to the flag and passed Mika Kallio on the very last lap to bring his Suzuki GSV-R home in 13th place. Today’s race was held under very cloudy skies, with a crowd of over 98,000 fans that saw Valentino Rossi win on his factory Yamaha and extend his championship lead. Rizla Suzuki now has a trip back to England for the British Grand Prix next weekend, to be held at Donington Park on Sunday 26th July. Loris Capirossi: ” We had a couple of issues during the warm-up today and when we saw that the weather was likely to be a bit better this afternoon we decided to use a harder compound tyre. Unfortunately we never had a chance to test this tyre during the practice and it was difficult to get the rubber up to temperature. This was one of the reasons that I struggled during the race, but there was also something else that wasn’t quite right and we need to understand why we did so badly here. This weekend has now finished and we could do with doing some work on this track to see where we are going wrong, but that is not possible. This is not good enough for us and we don’t want to be performing like this and we need as much help as we can get to improve things. The whole crew did a great job last night to rebuild the bike after I destroyed it yesterday, and my condition from that crash is not great but the biggest problem I had today was lack of feeling. I wasn’t able to turn as well as I wanted and this is a problem for me. I really hope that we can find some solutions and analyse the data from today and try and do our best at Donington next week.” Chris Vermeulen: “It has been a difficult weekend, especially after I didn’t get off to the best of starts by crashing in the first practice session. I gave my body a really hard time this weekend and because of the crash – and my condition – we lost some track-time and important set-up time. The team did give me a decent bike today, even with the lack of information that we had. I got a good start to the race and I had reasonable speed in the first couple of laps, but I struggled for braking performance and a lot of guys went past me. Then I ran off after I made a mistake and went wide in turn one and that cost me a lot of time. After that is was a pretty boring race and I was just trying to catch Canepa in front of me, but I just didn’t quite have the speed to do that. I did get Kallio on the last lap though and managed to get some points from not a good weekend. Hopefully I can get fitter over the next few days and push hard at Donington.” Paul Denning – Team Manager: “It is very difficult to draw any positives from the race result or for that matter the whole weekend here at Sachsenring. The riders are both very much walking wounded so it is good that they were able to finish the race today with no further damage – to either themselves or the bikes – and manage to get some points as well. We hope that they will be in a much better condition to put on an improved show at the team’s second ‘home Grand Prix’ next weekend.” More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: ROSSI AND LORENZO PUT ON ANOTHER BREATHTAKING SHOW TO TAKE TOP SPOTS IN GERMANY For the second time this season, Fiat Yamaha riders Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo were embroiled in a thrilling head to head battle to the flag at the German Grand Prix in Sachsenring today. As at Catalunya earlier this season, it was the eight-time World Champion Rossi who emerged the winner, but his young team-mate pushed him every step of the way and finished just 0.099 seconds behind, an almost identical gap to that of Catalunya. Rossi’s 101st win means he equals Agositini’s all-time podium record of 159 in all classes. Rossi got a brilliant start from pole, in contrast to Lorenzo beside him who slipped several places to sixth at the first split. The 22-year-old soon made up one place however and then Randy de Puniet crashed, elevating him to fourth at the end of the first lap. Lorenzo had a brief exchange with Andrea Dovizioso but soon dispensed with him and it was then Rossi leading from Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa and Lorenzo the four main championship protagonists within three-quarters of a second. On lap seven Rossi relinquished his lead to Stoner and it remained that way for the next ten laps, although the gap from the Australian to Lorenzo in third was almost nothing. On lap 18 the Italian pulled off a brilliant pass on the brakes at the bottom of the hill into the penultimate turn to retake the lead and his team-mate followed him through, passing Stoner on the finish straight to leave the Yamaha pair lying first and second. They quickly began to eke out a gap from their pursuers and with less than two tenths between them it was clear that they were heading towards another tense finale. Lorenzo made his move at the start of lap 26, passing his team-mate into turn one and hanging onto the lead until the second to last lap, when Rossi overtook him in the same place in what proved to be the decisive pass. A brave attempt from Lorenzo to go around the outside of Rossi at the start of the final lap fell short and a perfect final lap from the 30-year-old sealed his fourth win of the season, leaving Lorenzo to content himself with his eighth podium this year and Pedrosa to cross the line nearly three seconds further back in third. Rossi’s win means he stretches his lead over Lorenzo in second to 14 points, with eight rounds remaining. The Spaniard in turn lies14 points ahead of Stoner as the paddock moves straight on to the UK for the British Grand Prix at Donington Park Valentino Rossi Position: 1st Time: 41’21.769 “I think this was a great race for everyone because there were all four leading riders of the championship, fighting very closely and all in strong form. We knew that they would all be tough to beat today so I am very pleased about this win, I rode very well and my team worked brilliantly all weekend to find the right setting. I had a very good start today, a great battle with Stoner early on and then after half race distance I was a little faster and really able to push at the maximum, which was great fun. At the end it came down to another incredible battle with Lorenzo and I really had to be on top form, especially because he passed me when I wasn’t expecting it. Luckily I was able to take him back and then I rode a perfect final lap with no mistakes. Everything worked well today, my M1 and my Bridgestone tyres, so thanks and well done to everyone. This is my fourth win of the year and I really think that our Yamaha is a fantastic bike this season. I think races like this are great for the sport. Now we have a small advantage in the championship and we’re going straight to Donington, one of my favourite tracks where I really hope I can win after a few bad years without a victory!” Jorge Lorenzo Position: 2nd Time: +0.099 “Today was a very hard race because this track is slow and twisty and you have to use all the strength in your body to ride at the maximum. Keeping pace with Valentino today was a big challenge for me, especially since I’m not at full fitness after Laguna, so I am happy that I was able to push him until the end. Passing him was very difficult because he braked hard and late every time, and in fact I made a bit of a mistake because I thought there were a few more laps left when I passed him! I hoped to overtake him and then try to pull away but it didn’t work out today. Of course I’m disappointed to lose another very close race, it is always sad but I know that we are capable of fighting with him and considering his experience this is something I must be proud of. Second is important today and we still have a long way to go in this championship.” Davide Brivio Team Manager “What a battle and what Yamahas! Once again another very exciting race with many changes between the four top riders in the championship. As always Valentino had a very strong drive to win and today he had to use everything he had to hold off the challenge of our team-mate. Congratulations to Jorge because he made it a very hard race for us to win and of course congratulations to Valentino for doing his job brilliantly once again!” Daniele Romagnoli Team Manager “Another brilliant result from us; Jorge rode a great race and the team did a very good job in finding the right setting and choosing the right tyre for him today. Considering he’s not completely fit, we have to be impressed that he could fight so strongly to the end today and push Valentino to the final lap, riding at the highest level. We have to keep going in the same way because we still have a chance in this title fight.” More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Rossi triumphs in 30-lap thriller on hard Bridgestone slicks Round 9: German GP Race report Sachsenring, Sunday 19 July Bridgestone compounds available: Front: Slicks – Hard, Extra hard Wets – Hard Rear: Slicks – Hard, Extra hard (asymmetric) Wets – Hard Fiat Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi took his fourth victory of the season using Bridgestone’s hard slicks this afternoon, finishing just 0.099seconds ahead of teammate Jorge Lorenzo, who used the same front tyre but an extra hard compound rear slick. As the two pushed each other to the finish in another nail-biting race, they both set their fastest laps on the last lap, demonstrating the consistency and durability of the Bridgestone slicks. Their fastest laptimes were eclipsed by Dani Pedrosa however, who set a new circuit lap record five laps from the finish on his way to third position. The Repsol Honda rider opted for the same hard compound front and extra hard compound rear slick tyre combination as Lorenzo. A rain shower before the race ensured that teams had their wet Bridgestone tyres at the ready, and even though the rainclouds continued to threaten the conditions remained dry. The softer option front tyre was used by all riders except Ducati Team’s Casey Stoner, but rear tyre choices were much more varied. Ten riders opted for the hard compound rear slicks, whilst seven favoured the extra hard compound. Sachsenring has always been very demanding of tyres, the long series of fast lefts really testing the shoulder grip of both the front slicks and the asymmetric rears. Using Bridgestone tyres for the first time at this circuit, Pedrosa beat his previous race lap record, set in 2007, by almost one second, showing that the Bridgestone slicks performed well today. Hiroshi Yamada – Bridgestone Motorsport Manager Motorcycle Sport Unit “Sachsenring is a tricky circuit and again this year we saw conditions that were not easy. Under difficult situations it was very good to see another exciting battle with the top four riders, and also at the end of the race between Valentino and Jorge. I’d like to congratulate them both for another spectacular race right to the flag, and to Dani for setting a new lap record here. I am also pleased for San Carlo Honda Gresini for Alex’s highest finish of the year and for Toni’s great race in which he climbed from 17th to finish sixth.” Tohru Ubukata – Bridgestone Motorsport Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development “I am pleased with the compound choices we brought this weekend because our slick tyres showed good durability and reasonably faster lap times. The rain that fell between warm-up and the race changed the condition of the track, and this may be why a small number of riders suffered a faster wear rate of their front tyre during the race.” Valentino Rossi – Fiat Yamaha Team Race Winner “First of all it was another fantastic race! It was another great battle at the start with Stoner and later especially with Jorge to the last lap. It was fun but very tough. There was some overtaking as the top riders’ choice was different in the tyres so there was different behaviour in the bikes and some different lines in places. Now that tyres are all the same for everybody you have to fight more on the track. I tried to stay concentrated and had a great last lap. It is another victory and I’m so happy!” Top ten classification (Sunday 14:00 GMT+2) Pos. Rider Team Race time Gap Front tyre Rear tyre Tyres 1 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team 41m21.769s Hard Hard Bridgestone slick 2 Jorge Lorenzo Fiat Yamaha Team 41m21.868s +0.099s Hard Ex. hard Bridgestone slick 3 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 41m24.668s +2.899s Hard Ex. hard Bridgestone slick 4 Casey Stoner Ducati Team 41m31.995s +10.226s Ex. hard Hard Bridgestone slick 5 Alex de Angelis San Carlo Honda Gresini 41m43.291s +21.522s Hard Hard Bridgestone slick 6 Toni Elias San Carlo Honda Gresini 41m52.621s +30.852s Hard Hard Bridgestone slick 7 Marco Melandri Hayate Racing Team 41m53.070s +31.301s Hard Ex. hard Bridgestone slick 8 Nicky Hayden Ducati Team 41m53.495s +31.726s Hard Hard Bridgestone slick 9 Colin Edwards Monster Yamaha Tech3 41m54.634s +32.865s Hard Hard Bridgestone slick 10 James Toseland Monster Yamaha Tech3 42m05.695s +43.926s Hard Hard Bridgestone slick Weather: Dry. Ambient 17-19°C; Track 28-30°C ( Bridgestone measurement) More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda: EARLY EXIT FOR DE PUNIET AT THE GERMAN GP Sachsenring, 19 July: The ninth round of the season at Sachsenring race track was conducted in the dry despite cloudy skies and some light rain in the morning but LCR Honda MotoGP Team rider Randy De Puniet did not finish the race crashing out on lap one. After yesterday’s good qualifying when De Puniet got the 6th quickest time of the day riding his Honda RC212V no. 14, the 28-year-old made a good start from the second row and was third when he crashed out in the gravel. Luckily Randy escaped unhurt from the accident and will be back on track with his crew next week end at Donington Park race track. Rossi won the German GP followed by his team mate Lorenzo and Pedrosa. De Puniet – OUT De Puniet OUT: “I am very disappointed because I took a good start and was in third position behind Pedrosa. After that I made a mistake in the first right corner because I opened the throttle too early suffering a big highside. Anyway I feel lucky as I escaped unhurt from the crash but this is bad for me and the Team especially for the championship. We could finish in the top five as we had the speed to make an amazing race. However I am still holding the 10th position and we will start again from zero in Donington”. More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Valentino Rossi was never under any illusions that he would have it easy in his defense of the MotoGP world title, and once again the Italian was made to fight for glory at the Alice Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland. The Fiat Yamaha rider took the win at Sachsenring by just 0.099s from persistent rival Jorge Lorenzo in a breathtaking race to extend his lead in the World Championship. After starting from pole for the first time at the German track, Rossi took the lead of the race after thirteen laps. Both the Italian and teammate Lorenzo eked out an advantage to make it a two-way battle to the chequered flag, with a last lap battle reminiscent of the Barcelona round of the series one month ago. Rossi’s definitive pass had come at the end of the home straight with two laps to go, and he brushed off the young pretender’s overtures for his fourth win of the 2009 season. Starting from eighth on the grid, Dani Pedrosa had established his credentials in the dry with the best lap in the morning warmup. He had another storming start at Sachsenring to move up to the lead group, and put up a bold fight both amongst and behind the Yamaha duo. The Repsol Honda rider completed the podium with a race time under three seconds down on the top two. Early leader Casey Stoner’s stamina lasted longer than he had expected in the dry race, and he was able to mount a serious challenge for the win. With five laps to go, however, he was passed by Pedrosa going into the first turn, and one lap later a sit-up meant that he lost touch of the Spaniard. Alex de Angelis and Toni Elías had a successful salvage operation for the San Carlo Honda Gresini team, placing fifth and sixth, respectively. Elías was particularly impressive, having started from last place. The only retirees from the race were Randy de Puniet – who crashed on the opening lap – and Andrea Dovizioso. The latter fell victim to excessive front tyre wear and was forced to call it a day before the end of the 30-lap Grand Prix. 250cc Marco Simoncelli kept his title challenge alive with a win in the 250cc contest, his second victory of his World Championship defense. As in 2008, the Metis Gilera rider broke free from the pack in the early going. This time, however, he had Álex Debón along for the ride. Simoncelli couldn’t shake the Spanish veteran despite his best attempts, although he had enough breathing space to prevent any overtaking moves. Debón held on to second place, his first rostrum of the 2009 season, whilst behind him a fierce battle developed for the final podium spot. Álvaro Bautista took the trailing group up to his countryman on the final lap, but was unsuccessful in making a move on Debón despite putting in a circuit record lap. He did, however, get past title rival and series leader Hiroshi Aoyama to cut the gap in the standings to ten points. The race had been restarted after an initial lap when rain fell on the Sachsenring, but during the wait between starts the track was deemed to have dried sufficiently for the majority of riders to change back to slick tyres. 125cc Julián Simón extended his lead at the head of the 125cc World Championship classification, meanwhile, with a runaway win. The Bancaja Aspar rider had been the standout rider in every wet practice session for the German date, but proved equally adept in the dry on race day for a second triumph of 2009. An all-Spanish podium saw Simón’s teammate Sergio Gadea extend his podium run to three races with second place, also allowing him to become the closest rival for Simón in the overall standings. Belson Derbi’s Joan Olivé completed the podium with his first rostrum of the season, following the battle of the race between himself, fourth placed Nico Terol and Marc Maquez. A clash of fairings between Olivé and Marquez led to the latter taking a huge highside on the final lap. The 2009 FIM MotoGP World Championship continues at a rapid pace with the British Grand Prix taking place at Donington Park next weekend (24th-26th July). More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3: Edwards and Toseland fight hard for top ten in Sachsenring A double top ten finish for Colin Edwards and James Toseland moved the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team into fourth place in the Team World Championship standings after a hard fought German MotoGP race this afternoon. Starting from seventh on the grid, American Edwards stayed on the fringes of the top six until he encountered minor rear handling issues that saw him drop down to 11th on lap eight. Quickly adapting his style to compensate, Edwards produced an impressive performance in the second half of the race as he closed down on the battle between Nicky Hayden and Marco Melandri for seventh position. But having reduced the gap to less than 1.5s, Edwards had to settle for ninth to finish just two seconds off a fourth top six of the season. British rider James Toseland was just one place further back in 10th place. Racing with a new Yamaha YZR-M1 anti-wheelie system for the first time, Toseland made a good start from the fifth row of the grid but found himself boxed in at the Sachsenring’s tight first corner. Having overcome a small front tyre grip issue in the early stages of a 30-lap race, run in bright and sunny conditions, Toseland threatened to challenge for a top six as he pursued the group including Edwards, Hayden, Melandri and Toni Elias. Toseland eventually settled into a consistent pace and easily pulled away from Loris Capirossi and Mika Kallio to claim his fifth top ten finish of the season. The result ensured the 28-year-old gave himself a big confidence boost ahead of his home race at Donington Park next weekend. Colin Edwards 9th 83 points “It was a weird race and I had a similar problem to the last few races. It feels like I’ve got a load of weight on the rear pushing me into the corners. I can’t get the bike to turn and today was pretty much the same. The first few laps were a bit of nightmare because I was losing the front a lot. I was going backwards and at one point dropped out of the top ten, but when I thought it was going to be a long afternoon, a strange thing happened. As the rear grip started to drop, I actually got faster and the bike starting turning. With less grip on the rear I could turn the bike and it would help keep the front from just running straight on. So I just got my head down and recovered some positions but I ran out of laps when I getting closer to Nicky (Hayden) and Marco (Melandri). Now we go to Donington, which is a place that I love. I’ve had some success there in MotoGP and I’ll be looking to get closer to the front for all my guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3, who have worked hard again all weekend.” James Toseland 10th 45 points “I got a decent start and I was pleased with that after what happened at Laguna Seca and the anti-wheelie system from Yamaha has made a massive difference. But I got boxed in at the first corner. I’m not sure who it was but I had contact on my right and left knee. I didn’t roll off and got through but at the start of the race I had a few issues with the front tyre. We’re not sure if it was the temperature or the full fuel load but at the start I didn’t have much confidence. After about half distance it really started working well and I could run a really consistent pace. With the mixed conditions all weekend, I’d not had chance to run the hard rear tyre, but I really thought it would come strong in the last ten laps and help me chase the bunch I was on the back for a while that were battling for seventh. But the hard tyre wasn’t really an advantage for the last few laps and there was no difference in performance against the guys on the soft rear tyre. I’m satisfied with another top ten though and I’m now looking forward to my home race now at Donington Park. Another top ten has given me a bit of a boost. I’ll be looking to make amends for the disappointment of last year at the British GP and giving it my all for my home crowd.” Herve Poncharal Team Manager “We expected a lot better because this is a track that we know Yamaha is very strong at, but Colin and James rode to their maximum again. It has been a hard weekend with the track conditions changing so much and both of them finishing in the top ten is not a bad result. Through their hard work we are back in fourth place in the Team World Championship and Colin has consolidated his fifth place in the rider standings, which is a great reward for his consistency. James also had a very solid race and this has given some good confidence ready for his home race at Donington Park next week where he keen to perform for his home fans. Congratulations again to Yamaha with another very impressive performance from Valentino and Jorge. They are showing that Yamaha really is the best brand in MotoGP.” More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: FROM EIGHTH TO PODIUM FOR PEDROSA IN GERMANY Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa followed up his win in America two weeks ago with an excellent podium finish in the German Grand Prix today. The 23-year-old Spaniard blasted from eighth on the grid to second at the first corner and was threatening eventual winner Valentino Rossi in the first few laps. After a big slide in the middle section of the race Pedrosa reduced his pace, dropped back to fourth and it looked like his podium challenge might be over. But sensing an improvement in feedback, Pedrosa was able to attack again, retake Casey Stoner for third and close in on the back of the leaders. He set a new lap record of 1m 21.126 on lap 25, beating his own lap record from 2007 by almost a second, but couldn’t quite mount a challenge to second place man Jorge Lorenzo and Rossi ahead of him. Pedrosa crossed the line in third position just 2.899s behind the winner to record his fifth podium of the 2009 MotoGP season. Andrea Dovizioso also looked like a podium contender early in the race, despite starting from the fourth row of the grid. The genial Italian rider shot from 11th to fifth on the first lap and overtook Lorenzo for fourth on lap three. Soon though he experienced a loss of grip from the front of his machine which meant it was impossible for the former world champion to continue at his impressive pace. Eventually, having dropped back to 11th, Dovizioso was forced to pull into the pits. His team together with Bridgestone’s tyre technicians will analyze the reason for the loss of grip. Having passed its midway point, the MotoGP world championship now hops to Donington Park for the British Grand Prix, which takes place next Sunday at the unusual time of 15.30. DANI PEDROSA 3rd World Championship position: 4th 108 points “I’m pleased to be on the podium, and finishing this close to the leaders proves that our win at the last race wasn’t by chance. I made a very good start and in the first few laps I was comfortable behind Valentino. On about lap six or seven though I had a big moment in the last corner and almost crashed, so after that I slowed down a little and dropped back to fourth. With a slightly slower pace I felt the feedback coming back and towards the end of the race I was able to push hard again. I got past Casey and tried to catch the leaders but by this time I was a bit too far behind. Third place is a good result, but we were ready to fight for the win at this circuit so it looks like we still have a little bit of work to do. The team is in good shape though and we’re making progress all the time, so I’m confident we can continue to challenge for better results and preferably for wins. Donington is next and I’m looking forward to it. Let’s hope we can have an even better race there.” ANDREA DOVIZIOSO Retired World Championship position: 7th 69 points “We needed a strong result here and at the start of the race I was able to ride at a really good pace. I made a quick start from the fourth row and got past six riders on the first lap – then I was able to get past Lorenzo for fourth on the third lap. On that lap I did a 1m 22.7s but then, during the fourth lap, the front folded at turn eight and I ran wide. Within a few laps after this the performance from the front had dropped dramatically. It meant I couldn’t lean the bike or brake as normal so it was very difficult to control the bike. From then on my target was to finish the race but with five laps to go I had an electrical issue with the machine and I had to pull in. Obviously I’m really disappointed with the result because I was feeling fast here and I had a very good feeling from the bike. We really had the potential for a good result here, which is what we need at this moment. Still, now we’ll go to Donington next weekend and aim for the level of result we’re capable of.” KAZUHIKO YAMANO – REPSOL HONDA TEAM MANAGER “This was another strong ride from Dani and his pace was almost enough to challenge for the win today. It was a fighting performance from him and it’s good to see him on the podium for the second race in succession. Obviously we’d prefer to have a Repsol Honda rider on the top step and that’s what we’ll keep working for. We’ve been improving and we must continue to do so. For Andrea the result was obviously disappointing because he too had a good race pace in the early stages. We’ll have to look into the reasons for his front end problem today and I’m sure he can bounce back with a strong result at Donington.” More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: STONER BATTLES TO FOURTH AT SACHSENRING, HAYDEN NOT HAPPY WITH EIGHT PLACE Ducati Marlboro Team riders Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden took fourth and eighth place respectively in the German Grand Prix with combative performances at the Sachsenring circuit in bright sunshine but cool temperatures this afternoon. Stoner launched from the front row of the grid to chase Valentino Rossi before passing the Italian for the lead on lap seven, holding firm at the front until past mid-distance. However, the Australian suffered with front and rear grip in the second half of the race and was forced to yield his position to Rossi, with Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa also taking advantage to complete the podium. Starting from his best grid position of the season in fourth place Hayden was the unfortunate filling in a rider sandwich on the entry to the tight turn one, the American being forced wide and losing ten positions. Fresh on the back of his sensational fifth place at Laguna Seca two weeks ago, Hayden again demonstrated his growing affinity with the GP9 as he instantly fought back and battled through the pack to pass six riders and claim another important points haul. CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) (4th) “I wasn’t too confident at the start of the race because we were losing ground and my feeling with the bike wasn’t great but it quickly improved so we decided to hit the front as soon as possible if nothing else just to hold everybody up and stay in there with a shout. I started to lose the front end a few times so I decided to back off a bit. That allowed Valentino, Jorge and Dani to come past but then, as the fuel load lightened, the front fell more secure and I was able to pick up the pace again. Dani came up with an unbelievable lap that was about half a second quicker than any of his others. After he passed me I tried to push and stay with him but I actually lost the rear at the bottom of the hill and had to let off the brakes, which almost forced me to run into the gravel. All in all with the way things have been going lately I’m happy with today’s race because it’s the first time in a while I feel I’ve been really involved and I think if it wasn’t for that problem with the rear I may have been able to dig deep and given Valentino Jorge and Dani something to think about at the end. I’m excited about going to Donington now and I want to thank the team for sticking by me over the last few weeks because it hasn’t been fun for any of them.” NICKY HAYDEN (Ducati Marlboro Team) (8th) “I knew I needed to get a good start if I was going to do anything special today but I got into turn one hot and everybody came underneath me. To be honest after my crash in warm-up I started the race a little uptight because I didn’t want to wreck another bike or throw away everything we have gained and learned this weekend. It wasn’t the race we were looking for so I’m sorry to the team because the bike was capable of more here, I’ve just made a couple of mistakes this weekend. I don’t want to apologise for trying too hard though because I knew I could do good here. It is hard to be patient when you have a sniff of the front and instead of taking things step by step like we have up to now I pushed my luck and we’ve paid the price. So I’m disappointed with the race but not with the weekend on the whole because we’re up and running now and moving forward.” LIVIO SUPPO – Ducati MotoGP Project Director “It has been a weekend of many facets, some of them positive, some not so much but it has ended positively in my opinion. Casey finished fourth like in the last race but this time he was up front for a long time, he was able to fight harder and above all at the end he felt slightly better than in the last three extremely tough weekends. That is definitely the biggest positive. Nicky finished eighth but had the potential to do better. Unfortunately he crashed in the warm-up this morning and that caused him to lose a little confidence, especially at the start when he lost a lot of ground. But he has proved again that the bike is improving a lot and that gives us high hopes for the rest of the championship.” More, from a press release issued by Honda: PEDROSA FINISHES GRUELLING GERMAN GP ON PODIUM Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) rode to a determined third-place finish in today’s German GP, finishing the 30 lap race just 2.8 seconds behind race winner and series leader Valentino Rossi (Yamaha). Along the way the Spaniard set a new lap record, bettering his own record established during his runaway victory here in 2007. Satellite Honda team riders Alex De Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini) and Toni Elias (San Carlo Honda Gresini) gave team owner and former 125 World Champion Fausto Gresini something to celebrate by finishing in fifth and sixth positions, the Italian squad’s best day of the year so far. Two weeks after his brilliant US GP victory, Pedrosa was in the leading group throughout the race which took place on a dry track under threatening clouds after drizzle had forced the 250 race to be stopped and restarted. The Spaniard rode his record lap in the final stages as he chased down Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha), who finished second, just 0.099 seconds down. Pedrosa may have had a better shot at winning if he hadn’t had a few front-end scares in the early stages which forced him to ease his pace during the middle of the race. De Angelis rode a strong but mostly lonely race for his best result of the year following a storming ride to fifth in yesterday’s rain-lashed qualifier. The San Marino rider got away well, making contact with Casey Stoner (Ducati) at the busy first corner, and went with the leading group in the early stages. As the race wore on he lost contact with the first four but nevertheless maintained his impressive pace all the way to the chequered flag. Elias had a very different race. A crash during yesterday’s rain-lashed qualifying session left the Spaniard last on the grid, so he had to fight with all his might to make rapid forward progress during the early laps. Elias went from 14th to eighth in the space of 11 laps and made his last pass of the race on Marco Melandri (Kawasaki) with four laps remaining. It was an impressive ride in difficult circumstances. Gabor Talmacsi (Scot Honda) netted his first premier-class World Championship score in only his fourth MotoGP ride, taking the final point in 15th place. Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) withdrew from the race with five laps to go due to an electrical issue. The Italian ran strongly in the early stages, charging through from a fourth-row start to take fourth place from Lorenzo. But then he gradually began to lose positions as he lost front-tyre performance. Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) walked away from a high-speed crash on the very first lap. The Frenchman, who had qualified a promising sixth fastest, lost the rear as he tipped into the 210km/h turn 11, the first right-hander after a long sequence of left-handers. Hiroshi Aoyama (Scot Honda) scored a hard-fought fourth-place finish in the 250 race after a long battle with title rival Alvaro Bautista and several other Aprilia riders. The race red flagged on the first lap due to rain and restarted over a shorter 19-lap distance was won by reigning World Champion Marco Simoncelli (Gilera) who overcame early leader Alex Debon (Aprilia). Seventh after one lap, Aoyama spent much of the race battling for third place, frequently swapping places with Bautista in entertaining style. He fought well but finally Bautista beat him to the finish line by 0.866 seconds. Nevertheless the fourth-place result maintains Aoyama’s place at the top of the points chart, ten points ahead of Bautista. Hector Faubel (Valencia CF-Honda SAG) had his best race since May’s French GP, the Spaniard in the thick of the action for much of the 19 lap contest despite running wet-weather settings which his crew had dialled in because they expected the restart to be run on a wet track. In the mid-stages Faubel was as high as fourth, but he slipped back a few places as set-up issues got to him. 250 rookie Raffaele De Rosa (Scot Honda) maintained his impressive run of top-ten finishes with a ninth place today (he’s finished outside the top ten just once so far this year). The Italian ran short of front grip and spent much of the race alone. Shoya Tomizawa (Team CIP Honda) had also expected rain for the restart. When conditions turned out to be dry his team didn’t quite have enough time to fully revert his bike to dry settings. The GP rookie rode a strong race in spite of this to finish 13th, his first points since the Spanish GP. It was a great day for Bastien Chesaux (Racing Team Germany Honda). The 17-year-old scored his first World Championship point at the track where he made his GP debut this time last year. Chesaux brought his RS250 home in 15th place. Valentin Debise (Team CIP Honda) had a tough day. The French youngster ran a hard front tyre and fell on the very first lap, damaging his machine. He was able to get the bike back to the paddock for repairs and swapped to rain tyres. When he arrived on the grid to find the track drying out, he had no time to change back to slicks, so he started the race on rain tyres and pitted to fit slicks after one lap. That lost him several laps but he continued to the finish, learning plenty along the way. Ratthapark Wilairot (Thai Honda PTT-SAG) was out of luck. Impressively fast in morning warm-up the Thai rider had expected a good afternoon, but he fell victim to the Sachsenring’s tricky first corner, just moments after the first start. Wilairot landed heavily after his highside fall and was unable to take the restart due to a painful back injury. HONDA MotoGP RIDER QUOTES Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda), third finisher, said: “I’m pleased to be on the podium, and finishing this close to the leaders proves that our win at the last race wasn’t by chance. I made a very good start and in the first few laps I was comfortable behind Valentino. On about lap six or seven though I had a big moment in the last corner and almost crashed, so after that I slowed down a little and dropped back to fourth. With a slightly slower pace I felt the feedback coming back and towards the end of the race I was able to push hard again. I got past Casey and tried to catch the leaders but by this time I was a bit too far behind. Third place is a good result, but we were ready to fight for the win at this circuit so it looks like we still have a little bit of work to do. The team is in good shape though and we’re making progress all the time, so I’m confident we can continue to challenge for better results and preferably for wins. Donington is next and I’m looking forward to it. Let’s hope we can have an even better race there.” Alex De Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini), fifth finisher, said: “After showing my pace in the wet during qualifying yesterday I knew I could go fast in the dry as well and that proved to be the case. Obviously this is a circuit I like a lot but I was also fast in practice at Laguna Seca unfortunately we had a technical problem there and I wasn’t able to back it up with a good result. This time it was nice to carry my form through to Sunday and to stay close to the guys at the front for the first time this season. I really enjoyed attacking and passing (Andrea) Dovizioso, it was a great feeling. This is the result we have been looking for we have made some important technical progress and I think that at Donington, a circuit I like with its fast corners, I can produce a similar result.” Toni Elias (San Carlo Honda Gresini), sixth finisher, said: “To be honest I was expecting a battle just to finish in the top ten today but it ended up being much better than I could have imagined! It was a tough race and physically I still wasn’t feeling very strong but I managed to get into my rhythm and start passing riders. Once I caught up with Marco I found it difficult to get past him and my stomach pains started. I thought, ‘please no, not now!’ I fought through the pain and over the last few laps we had a great battle, which I was able to win. I want to thank the team because they’ve been doing a great job and we are starting to see the fruit of our hard work. If we hadn’t started from the back of the grid the result today could have been much better so that is something for us to think about for Donington, where we can go in high spirits.” Gabor Talmacsi (Scot Honda), 15th finisher, said: “I got my first point in MotoGP today and I’m happy about that. It is something that will stay in my record. Nevertheless, we want to progress more. Maybe I overrode today because I had some problems with the front tyre and from a certain moment on I could not keep in contact with my group. So I tried to find a good rhythm and go as fast as I could. But I’m confident: we all have the same target: to fight for good positions. We have simply to work hard.” Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda), DNF, said: “We needed a strong result here and at the start of the race I was able to ride at a really good pace. I made a quick start from the fourth row and got past six riders on the first lap then I was able to get past Lorenzo for fourth on the third lap. On that lap I did a 1m 22.7s but then, during the fourth lap, the front folded at turn eight and I ran wide. Within a few laps after this the performance from the front had dropped dramatically. It meant I couldn’t lean the bike or brake as normal so it was very difficult to control the bike. From then on my target was to finish the race but with five laps to go I had an electrical issue with the machine and I had to pull in. Obviously I’m really disappointed with the result because I was feeling fast here and I had a very good feeling from the bike. We really had the potential for a good result, which is what we need at this moment. Still, now we’ll go to Donington next weekend and aim for the level of result we’re capable of.” Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda), DNF, said: “I am very disappointed because I took a good start and was in third position behind Pedrosa. After that I made a mistake in the fast right corner because I opened the throttle too early and suffered a big highside. Anyway, I feel lucky as I escaped injury from the crash but a DNF is bad for me and the team, especially for the championship. Today we could have finished in the top five because we had the speed to make an amazing race. However, I am still tenth overall and we will start again from zero at Donington on Friday.” HONDA 250cc RIDER QUOTES Hiroshi Aoyama (Scot Honda), fourth finisher, said: “This was a really critical race: two starts, the choice of tyres between the two, many crashes, so keeping concentration was quite difficult. In the beginning and during the middle part of the race I was able to catch up and to get a good position. Bautista tried several times to pass me. I was able to resist until the last kilometres he was faster than me, and I tried to defend. About one thing I’m certain: if this had been a full-distance race the story would have been different.” Hector Faubel (Valencia CF-Honda SAG), fifth finisher, said: “It was a really good race. The bike worked really well, so I could follow the front riders. We took a lot of risks after the race was stopped because of the rain. We set up the bike for rain, with wet suspension settings, but unfortunately after two laps the track was dry. I had to take a lot of risks to stay in a good position and I nearly crashed with two laps to go, so I preferred to ease my pace and finish. I’m very happy because now I’m close to the top riders in the points and I will continue working hard to move further up the ladder.” Raffaele De Rosa (Scot Honda), ninth finisher, said: “Mixed feelings: happy and not so happy at the same time. I had some critical moments in the beginning of the race. Anyway, starting 18th and finishing ninth is not that bad. The bike was okay in spite of the fact that the weather did not grant us much time to work on the dry set-up. In the race the front tyre degraded very quickly.” Shoya Tomizawa (Team CIP Honda), 13th finisher, said: “After the rain came and they red flagged the race we came back to our base in the paddock. It was raining on the awning, so we fitted wets and changed the bike to a wet set-up. Then we took the bike to the grid, and it was completely dry! So we refitted slicks and started changing the set-up, but we didn’t have enough time to complete the rear settings. I was a little nervous because I knew I really needed to finish this race. I ran off the track one time and lost maybe ten seconds, but I managed to recover a few places. It’s great to get a few more points.” Bastien Chesaux (Racing Team Germany Honda), 15th finisher, said: “It’s a great feeling to get my first World Championship point, especially at my team’s home race. I got good starts both times, and it was an incredible race for me. I had a good pace and the bike was really great, so I could go with Tomizawa for a while.” Valentin Debise (Team CIP Honda), 20th finisher, said: “I crashed on the first lap of the first start, so it was difficult for us to get the bike repaired for the restart. My mechanics did everything they could, fixing the bike, fitting rain tyres and so on. Then we got to the grid and it was dry, but there was no time to change tyres, so I started on wets and came into the pits to change to slicks. After that it was a bit like a test or a practice session.” Ratthapark Wilairot (Thai Honda PTT-SAG), DNF, said: “I had very bad luck. I made a really good start, catching the riders in front but in the first corner I don’t know exactly what happened but I fell down. That was my race finished because I had a heavy impact to my back that hurts a lot. I’m sad because this morning I did a really good warm-up, I was second, and I had a good feeling with the bike. I was thinking this race could be really good for me but finally it wasn’t.”