Just 41 days after sustaining a compound fracture to his right leg, Valentino Rossi returned to racing and took seventh-place in Friday's practice in Germany.
Valentino Rossi made a stunning return to
MotoGP action in Germany this afternoon with the nine-time world champion ending opening practice at the Sachsenring circuit in seventh position. Just 41 days after suffering a compound fracture of his right leg in a horrific high-side crash during practice for his home race at Mugello, Rossi made a remarkable comeback in front of a big Friday crowd in Germany. The 31-year-old was only cleared to ride his factory
Yamaha YZR-M1 machine yesterday. However, fears that his damaged leg would be too restrictive and weak and his fitness way short of 100 percent were quickly ended as Rossi made a stunning start to the session. For large parts of the opening hour-long session, Rossi was in the top-four and less than two-tenths off the pace. He eventually ended with a best time of 1.23.244 to finish 0.723s off Dani Pedrosa’s best pace. He was also less than three-hundredths of a second behind Ben Spies on the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1 machine in fourth-place.
Rossi, who tested a factory spec Yamaha R1
World Superbike in Misano and Brno before his much hyped return, said: “I feel quite good on the bike and this is the most important thing. I have to say this track helps me quite a lot because it has a lot of left hand corners, so it is a good track to return. When I’m on the left corner I don’t have a big problem. I have more of a problem on the right turns but my leg is good. I have some pain but I can move on the bike and ride like I want. I feel also better than with the superbike because my M1 is more comfortable for my riding position and I’m very happy about the shoulder. I’ve worked a lot in this period and I have a lot less pain compared to Jerez, Le Mans and Mugello. This is so important because my shoulder gave me a lot of problems with riding. We have to wait until after practice today to see if the leg swells. The only question now is whether I can do 30 laps in a row on Sunday.”
Rossi stated that his main issue with right-hand turns was the lack of movement in his right leg.
“When I go in the right corners I have to move my foot backwards for a different position on the footpeg and this movement gives me quite a lot of pain. The rear muscles in the leg are not at 100 percent so I have pain to move the foot backwards after the entry to the corner. My knee suffers quite a lot when it stays bent. But I’m also happy because since Monday in Brno I feel better and we have improved.”
Ducati's Casey Stoner secured the second-fastest time in practice but believes more work is needed on his setup before Sunday's race.
Sunday’s eighth round of the 2010 world championship though will be run over 30 laps, and the longest run Rossi completed today was ten laps. He remains confident though that he can be competitive, and added: “I don’t know about the race but for sure I have to suffer a little bit on Sunday. Maybe I can be quite competitive for the whole race. We improved the bike also to make it easier for me to ride, and also in the electronics we improved some settings.”
Rossi said his impressive lap times and confidence on board his factory YZR-M1 had been a welcome surprise. When asked about whether he was surprised to have figured so close to the top of the timesheets, he said: “Yes I’m surprised. I think it’s because after the crash it all went well from the surgery through my period at home. I had a lot of good people that helped me improve my condition and I worked five or six hours every day to be fit, but it is a big surprise to be in this shape.”
Meanwhile Casey Stoner reckoned he needed to improve braking performance with his factory
Ducati GP10 machine to strengthen his bid for a first MotoGP victory since October. The 24-year-old hasn’t won since the Sepang race in Malaysia at the end of the 2009 campaign, but he made a good start to the German Grand Prix at the tight and twisty Sachsenring circuit. The 2007 world champion finished in second-place with a best time of 1.22.795, leaving him trailing Repsol
Honda rider Dani Pedrosa by 0.274s.
“I'm pretty happy," said Stoner. "The bike is working well and has got pretty good grip, which we can improve a little but the main issue is under heavy braking. I’ve got some stability issues."
Stoner said his braking issues were not similar to those he experienced when he finished third at the recent Catalunya MotoGP race in Barcelona, adding: “In Barcelona we couldn't get the bike to stop. It didn't matter whether we went stiffer or softer in the front we just couldn't get it to pull up quick enough. Here it is pulling up quick enough, but we have stability issues at the front. It is pumping a little bit and every bump in the corner I'm feeling."
Stoner said he wasn’t surprised to see Spanish rival Pedrosa start the weekend so fast. Pedrosa has been finding a good early set-up with his factory YZR-M1 machine a tough task in 2010. However, today he clocked a best time of 1.22.251 with only Ducati duo Stoner and Hayden lapping inside of half-a-second of Pedrosa.
After taking third in the timesheets, Nicky Hayden commented how impressed he was by Valentino Rossi's quick return to the MotoGP series.
Stoner, who will join Pedrosa in Honda’s official factory squad in 2011, added: “Dani normally struggles with set-up at the beginning of the weekend, but if they get the set-up right out of the box then there is no reason he is not going to be fast. It is not so much Dani building up, but it is maybe they don't come out of the box as strong with the set-up. Dani has always been fast here and is again this weekend, so he's the man to chase down at the moment. I should have been able to go quite a lot faster in that session, but we just had no confidence in the two hard braking points.”
Stoner conceded that he was losing too much time to Pedrosa in the tight and twisty first section of the Sachsenring track.
“Dani is a lot faster in the first part,” said Stoner. “He made the best time in Turn 4 but he is almost two- tenths faster than me in Turn 1. It is a tight corner and he's got good acceleration out of it. The last section is easy for us to understand because I've got no confidence going into that bottom corner with the bumps upsetting the bike. Normally I’m quite fast in Turn 4 but I need a little more confidence."
Hayden hailed Valentino Rossi’s brilliant return to MotoGP action today after the American enjoyed an upturn in his own fortunes at Sachsenring. The American finished with the third-quickest time after being mostly anonymous during the session. Hayden surged into the top-three with just over 50 seconds of the session remaining, his best time of 1.22.983 relegating fellow American Ben Spies back down to third. He ended up just 0.188s slower than factory Ducati teammate Casey Stoner, but heaped praise on Rossi after the Italian finished seventh- quickest on his much anticipated comeback.
“What is there to say about that guy? said Hayden. “I’m not sure he believes that the title is completely over. He wants to fight until it is mathematically over. On one hand he makes it harder for us. I’d be lying if I said sometimes I like to be in front of him but it is better for the series and for the show when he’s here. It is good to have him back and you can almost feel it in the paddock. It shows a lot when he’s a nine-time world champion and over 100 points back, and still comes back on crutches. Nobody can question whether or not he still wants it.”
Hayden was delighted with his own progress too, having suffered a mini-slump in results. He hasn’t finished in the top-six at the last two races, and said: “Towards the end I started to feel pretty good and it was an important hour. At least I’ve got a good direction and I’ve tried both tires. It’s not a bad start and better than the one I made in Barcelona. But I was third on the first day in Assen too so I need to wait until Sunday. But I need a result here.”
Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa started off on the right foot in Germany by taking the quickest time in practice.
With weather forecasts predicting showers and storms for tomorrow, the former Repsol Honda rider said he preferred conditions to remain dry after his encouraging start to Sunday’s 30-lap race.
“Right now I’m third and have a pretty good feeling with the bike, so I’m not looking forward to rain," Hayden said. "Right now I want it to stay dry, but I’m kind of looking forward to riding in the rain. Some said last year we couldn’t get through a day without rain, but this year we’ve had none. It can be cold and wet and miserable, but in some ways it is a different challenge.”
Pedrosa got an early confidence boost in Germany today after he ended the first free practice with the quickest time. Pedrosa has been normally slow out of the blocks in 2010 with the Spaniard struggling at times to quickly find a set-up with his factory Honda RC212V. But he had no such issue today at a scorching hot Sachsenring circuit, the 24-year-old producing a series of fast laps in the final ten minutes that secured him the top spot.
The triple world champion ended with a best time of 1.22.521 to finish 0.274s clear of factory Ducati rival Casey Stoner.
“It’s great because for the first time this season I’ve got the best time on Friday and this is a very positive step for us," said Pedrosa. "We normally struggle initially, but today we did a very good job in first practice and I’m very happy for this. It’s also a good result because tomorrow it could rain and so it was very important to get the basic set-up fixed on the first day here. I hope we will have one more dry practice session tomorrow, but it looks likely that at least one session will be wet. Today we were focused mainly on trying the different Bridgestone tire compounds available for the race, and we were able to be fast with the soft and also with the hard option. For tomorrow we need to keep working on the suspension and the electronics because I think we can still improve in some parts of the lap.”
After struggling with grip levels from his M1, Jorge Lorenzo took sixth during an upsetting first practice session.
In contrast, it was a poor session by compatriot Jorge Lorenzo’s normally exceptionally high standards. The Fiat Yamaha rider, who leads Pedrosa by a massive 52 points heading into the eighth round on Sunday in Germany, struggled to a dismal sixth-place this afternoon. He could only clock a best time of 1.23.224 on his factory Yamaha YZR-M1 to finish 0.703s behind Pedrosa.
“Today wasn't a good session for me and I didn't feel so good on the bike." said Lorenzo. "This isn't one of my favorite tracks and it's very different to the ones where I've won lately, so I think I need to make some changes to the way I'm riding the bike. I was fast at the start but then we didn't improve from the middle to the end and everyone else did. We have some work to do and our goal is to be competitive by Sunday."
Ben Spies finished fourth at the end of opening practice at the Sachsenring circuit today after another impressive performance from the Texan. The reigning World Superbike champion quickly mastered the tight, twisty and undulating Sachsenring circuit to set the fourth best time ahead of runaway world championship leader Jorge Lorenzo. Spies opted to learn the circuit using the hard compound rear Bridgestone tire, and he recovered well after an early off-track excursion.
American Ben Spies overcame an early run-off to take the fourth-fastest time in practice behind Ducati duo Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden.
Once he switched to the softer option rear tire he will likely select for Sunday’s 30-lap race, he was immediately able to surge up the leaderboard and catapult himself into contention for a top-five spot. Just five minutes remained when Spies clocked his best time of 1.23.189, and it was only a late attack from fellow American Nicky Hayden that denied the 25-year-old a stunning top-three position.
“I’m really happy to be so high up after the first session and I think I figured out this track pretty quickly," Spies said. "It is good to start the weekend in the top-five and that gives us a platform to build on. The circuit is pretty tight and twisty and there are a lot of left-hand corners, but I like it because there is quite a lot of elevation that makes it fun. It felt like being out on a dirt track bike. If the weather isn’t as good tomorrow I’m really glad that I got going today and was able to get a feel for the track and also put in some fast lap times. I went out on the hard tire, which I don’t think I’m going to race on, just to learn the track, and when I put the softer tire on I was able to go quite a bit faster.”
