MotoGP 2008 - Round Ten - Sachsenring (Germany)

MotoGP 2008 - Round Ten - Sachsenring (Germany) - Day 3 - HRC Report

HONDA RACING INFORMATION
German Grand Prix at The Sachsenring
Sunday July 13, 2008
MotoGP, 250GP and 125GP race report
Weather: wet, overcast
Temperature: 14-degree ambient, 17-degree track
Humidity: 82%
Crowd: 98,000

LEADER DANI FALLS AS DE ANGELIS FIGHTS TO FOURTH

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) was leading this soaking wet race by more than seven seconds after just four laps when he fell braking for turn one. Casey Stoner (Ducati) eventually won from Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) with Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki) just hanging onto third from a flying Alex de Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V).

As rain sheeted down the lights went out and Dani hit the front from second on the grid. Andrea Dovizioso (JiR Scot Honda RC212V) snatched second from row two, Colin Edwards (Yamaha) was an early front-runner too and Stoner lay fourth having started from pole.

At the end of lap one Dani had pulled out a staggering two second lead over Dovi. With a clear track in front of him Pedrosa was simply pulverising the rest of the grid. On a sodden track he set an early fastest lap of 1m 36.65s and the Spanish star was riding two seconds a lap faster than anyone.

As he crossed the line for the start of lap six in this 30-lap encounter he enjoyed a seven second advantage over Stoner who had mover up to second past Dovizioso. Braking for the tricky right-hand turn one, Dani fell, his bike smashed beyond resumption of the race and Dani, fortunately, walking away, albeit carrying injuries.

Now it was Stoner’s turn to enjoy a spray-less run at the front and the Aussie employed the same remorseless measures, hauling away from Dovi by more than two seconds in two laps. As the rain eased off slightly Rossi passed Dovi for second at turn one and Edwards moved past him for third shortly after.

The order after one third race distance was Stoner by 2.9 seconds from Rossi with another 1.3 seconds back to Edwards, then Dovi, Vermeulen, De Angelis and Marco Melandri (Ducati) who would set a fastest lap before crashing out on lap 11.

By mid-race distance the track was marginally less wet but still drenched in water and the order was Stoner by 4.4 seconds from Rossi, then a similar gap back to Vermeulen and De Angelis. Stoner by now had set a fastest lap of 1m 33.452s.

De Angelis was working hard on Vermeulen, but try as he might the San Marinese rookie on his customer RCV couldn’t find a way past the acknowledged wet-weather expert Vermeulen on the factory Suzuki. It made for the most exciting duel of the race though. Edwards was to crash at two thirds race distance leaving Dovi in a safe fifth place.

Stoner eased up in the final laps, Rossi taking a safe second then Vermeulen and De Angelis breasting the line just feet apart having lapped Toni Elias (Ducati) as they finished this cold, wet race. Dovi finished fifth, Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V) eighth.

Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC212V) pitted early on with electrical difficulties and grip problems. He rejoined the race to finish 13th while Shinya Nakano (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) finished ninth to continue his record of having scored points at all ten races so far this season.

Dani, now nursing fracture to the index finger of his left hand and a suspected fracture to his right ankle, said: “It was a little strange. I had only just touched the brake and I crashed. It was a real pity because I’d got a great start and was going well. I had a good feeling. The front felt perfect, the rear was sliding just a little, but the general feeling was good considering the track conditions. It is a real pity.”

De Angelis said: “Considering the dreadful weather, the last thing I expected was to be fighting for the podium. Of course, I thought I could have a good race but for me that meant fighting for eighth or ninth place, so to finish fourth is very satisfying – even if a podium wouldn’t have been bad either! I went for it but I was held up at the end by Elias – both Vermeulen and myself were forced to change our line to get around him.”

Fifth-placed Dovi, this his third fifth-place in a row, said: “This fifth place is our third consecutive fifth-placed finish, so we have to be happy. We started ‘in the dark’, as everyone saw that the practice sessions were dry and we chose a hard rear tyre, which didn’t let me to lean to the limit and be fully-fast with my corner speed. When Edwards caught me I didn’t let him go, and maintained contact with him until he made a mistake and fell I was expecting a little more though.”

The unfortunate Nicky said: “Today was a bit of a disaster, really. All weekend in the dry we had been going OK but conditions changed a lot for the race. I was actually glad it was raining because the bike has been working good in the rain recently, but the race turned into a disaster. The tyre choice wasn’t good and something also didn’t look right on the electronics, seems like it was a combination of problems. We came in and changed the rear tyre to a slightly different compound. Things were a lot better when I went out but I was right in the middle of everybody but I didn’t want to get in the way of people racing.”

De Puniet in eighth said: “Basically I never had enough grip on the right side of the bike throughout the race. I went into the gravel in the first corner on lap seven and after that I tried to set a rhythm battling with Capirossi. With two laps to go the rain got worse and then Capirossi passed me in the last corner before the straight. Honestly, I’m not very happy, but with these conditions eighth place is not so bad.”

Ninth-placed Nakano said: “I’m really disappointed with this result; unfortunately I didn’t manage to find a good feeling with the bike at the start of the race. I lost grip on the front for a couple of laps and just wasn’t comfortable in those conditions generally. I tried to keep my pace up but the amount of water on the track made it really difficult for me. I’m disappointed for the team but looking ahead to the next race at Laguna Seca with optimism.”

The World Championship points table now shows Rossi on 187, Pedrosa with 171 and Stoner third with 167 points. The next round is at Laguna Seca in the United States next weekend.

MotoGP 2008 - Round Ten - Sachsenring (Germany)
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