2010 MotoGP Sachsenring Preview

The fight for the MotoGP crown continues this weekend as teams prepare for Round 8 at the Sachsenring circuit in Germany. Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo will be out to defend his imposing lead in the championship, and with the possibility of his teammate, Valentino Rossi, returning the Spaniard will be on high alert heading into the German Grand Prix. While Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa remains 52 points behind Lorenzo in the championship, the ’10 season has yet to reach its halfway point and there are still remain plenty of opportunities.
 
The biggest question on everyone’s mind this round is whether or not Valentino Rossi will be participating in Germany. After recently completing a second test at the Brno circuit on Monday, the Italian reported that he felt less pain than he had during a previous test session the week prior at Misano.
 
“I’m very happy with how it went,” said Rossi. “I felt much better than in Misano – last week was pretty hard but I feel better and better and we have had five days between those two tests. This time my knee and shoulder didn’t hurt as much.”
 
Rossi will be undergoing more X-rays to determine how well his leg has been recovering, and shortly after a decision will be made on whether or not he will race in Round 8.
 
“Now I’ll have to wait to take a decision on Wednesday after we have some X-rays as to whether I race or not in Germany,” Rossi said. “Doing a full race will be a different story, but I still have another couple of days to get a bit better.”

Lorenzo arrives in Germany in high spirits after three consecutive victories. Having placed within the top-two every race this season, Lorenzo is the first rider since Rossi in 2005 to be on the podium in the first seven races of the season. Making this German round especially important for Lorenzo is the fact that he has yet to take a win at Sachsenring in any class.
 
Closest to Lorenzo in the championship is Pedrosa. With his second-place finishes at Assen and Catalunya, Pedrosa will be aiming for the hat-trick of podium finishes at the German circuit on Sunday. Increasing Pedrosa’s odds is his history at Sachsenring, where he’s had two wins in the 250cc class and one in MotoGP during the 2007 season.
 
“Sachsenring is a circuit where I enjoy racing,“ said Pedrosa. “We’ve normally had a good performance there; even in 2008 when I crashed I was leading the race with a good gap, so it makes me feel that we can do well again this weekend. I want to be totally concentrated on not making any mistakes and be to ready to fight for the win.”
 
Pedrosa’s teammate, Andrea Dovizioso, is third in the series with 91 points. Having landed on the podium four times this year, he's enjoying his best MotoGP season to date. After dueling with Lorenzo for the lead at Catalunya, Dovizioso experienced a crash that resulted in a 14th-place finish. Despite his recent misfortune, the Italian has demonstrated an ability to run at a race-winning pace and is still looking for his first victory of the season.
 
“I’m look forward to racing in Germany again,” said Dovizioso. “I believe we can get a strong result this weekend. In Barcelona we had a very good race pace that allowed us to stay with the leader for two thirds of the race - and this was really positive. At every race this season we are improving - we take one step forward at a time - and now we have to take the final step and really challenge for the win.”
 
Tied for fourth-place in the championship are Ducati Marlboro’s Nicky Hayden and LCR Honda’s Randy de Puniet. The American has secured podium finishes at the circuit four times in a row between 2004 and 2007.
 
“It is a very short lap at Sachsenring and the first part of it is very tight and technical, with probably the slowest run of corners on the whole calendar,” said Hayden. “It is a track I like a lot and on paper it is one of the best on the calendar for me.”
 
Hayden will have a lot to contend with, however, as Frenchman De Puniet has put in some amazing performances during the past few rounds. The Privateer satellite-spec RC212V rider has started from the front row in the last three races and took his best result of the season in the last round at Catalunya.
 
“We hope to continue our good work of the recent few races,” said De Puniet. “Things are going well at the moment; it’s a great feeling to fight with the factory bikes and riders. We will have to wait and see how things go at the Sachsenring. It is not an easy track on a MotoGP bike, so we will have to work very carefully on Friday and Saturday to make the bike as good as it can be for full race distance.”
 
Hayden’s Ducati teammate, Casey Stoner, heads to Germany off the back of a strong third-place finish in Barcelona. Currently sixth in the series, the Australian enjoyed his first podium of his career at Sachsenring in the 125cc class back in 2003. More recently, Stoner secured a MotoGP victory at the circuit in 2008, and will be looking to take another win there this year.

“We’re a little more confident with the bike, everything has worked well enough in the last three races and we just need to find a bit more speed - just a few tenths of a second,” said Stoner. “I’m looking forward to the next race because if we can find a good set-up it can give us the opportunity to do well. I want to put some good results together and both myself and the team will be working hard and giving 100% to get them.”
 
Another rider to be on the lookout for is Yamaha Tech 3’s Ben Spies. Currently eighth in the championship with 11 races left in the season, the rookie will look to once again show his quickness on a new circuit and continue to impress in what has been a strong season for the Texan.
 
Moto2
 
Currently leading the Moto 2 series by 17 points is Gresini Racing’s Toni Elias. The Spanish rider took wins at Jerez and Le Mans back in May, but in the last four contests the point leader has been out-paced by Interwetten Moriwaki rider Thomas Luthi. In the last round at Catalunya Elias, took fifth in what was a chaotic race that saw Yuki Takahashi of Tech 3 Racing take the victory due to Fimmco Speed Up's Andrea Iannone not yielding under a yellow flag.
 
“After Barcelona I was very disappointed,” said Elias. “But after the tests we did at the circuit of Aragon, I found confidence. We go to Germany having found a good feeling with the bike and hoping to find the competitiveness that will enable us to continue to believe in the goals we have promised to get to the end of this season.”
 
Despite not earning any wins so far this season, Swiss rider Luthi has battled up front in many races and travels to Germany with three consecutive podium finishes. Perhaps most amazing about Luthi’s recent performance is that it’s happened under an injured collarbone.
 
“As always I hope I can attack the Sachsenring circuit from the front group again,” said Luthi. “I don’t have the reason yet to hope for the world title. There are still many races to come, but I really hope I can continue with the form of the last races.”
 
Third-place in the series is Julian Simon of Mapfre Aspar, who is separated from Technomag-CIP’s Shoya Tomizawa by just 1 point. Simon took the win in the 125cc class at Sachsenring in 2009 from pole position, and the Spaniard recently took third-place at Catalunya ahead of both Elias and Tomizawa.
 
“I hope we can have another good weekend like we had at Catalunya and at Silverstone,” said Simon. “But I know it will be difficult, because this class is so close and the Sachsenring circuit is so tight. The first corner is going to be very busy on Sunday! I won the 125 race there last year, but the track will be very different on a Moto2 bike.”