2010 MotoGP Championship – Round Eight – Sachsenring – Day Three
Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa reduced the gap to Jorge Lorenzo in the championship standings to less than 50 points with victory in today’s restarted eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland at Sachsenring.
The original race was red flagged on lap nine when a crash for Randy de Puniet at turn four brought down both Álvaro Bautista and Aleix Espargaró, neither of whom could avoid the Frenchman’s bike as it burst into flames in the middle of the track. The top five order at that stage was Lorenzo, Pedrosa, Stoner, Andrea Dovizioso and Rossi, which is how they lines up on the grid for the restart after the race had been red flagged.
Espargaró and Bautista were not allowed to start the shortened 21-lap race as both failed to return to pit lane with their bikes within the allowed five-minute window after the showing of the red flag. De Puniet was physically unable to retake the grid, having sustained fractures in his left tibia and fibula in the incident.
Espargaró was later diagnosed with a cracked C6 vertebra.
After a 25-minute interval the new shortened race got underway, with Mika Kallio sliding out at turn one in an unfortunate end to his weekend. As he had done in the original race Pedrosa got his nose in front on the first lap, but Lorenzo quickly assumed the race lead – that would change again however.
The top order was much the same as it had been before the red flag, with Lorenzo holding off Pedrosa, Stoner in third, and Rossi and Dovizioso battling for fourth. The reigning World Champion was in front of his Italian compatriot before too long, and the Repsol Honda man was caught by the chasing pack shortly after.
The battle between Lorenzo and Pedrosa was developing into a thriller with the two Spaniards swapping the lead as they constantly looked for ways through on one another. Pedrosa was at his best as he set a new circuit lap record on lap 10 and then again on lap 12, assuming the race lead and breaking his own record from the previous year and consistently riding in the low 1’22”s bracket.
There was a good scrap going on for fifth between Marco Simoncelli, Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden, with the latter two going through on the rookie when he had a bit of an out of the saddle moment on the drop down to turn 12.
Rossi was defying his precarious physical condition to engage in a great contest with Stoner for third, the two side by side with only a few laps to go and taking their duel to the bitter end.
Pedrosa crossed the line in first position, 3.355s clear of championship leader Lorenzo thanks to a faultless ride.
“I’m very happy because we are back winning races and it’s a great feeling,” said Pedrosa. “Today’s win was even better than Mugello, because I was battling with Lorenzo and finally beat him, so this is even more important. This weekend has ended perfectly.”
“I don’t think I rode as well in the second part of the race as I did in the first,” explained Lorenzo. “Dani was very strong and I was on the limit trying to stay ahead. When he passed me I tried to stay with him, but he was much faster than me today.”
Stoner managed to edge Rossi for third with a final corner move that handed the Italian fourth on his return from injury, a highly impressive result.
“Valentino was taking big chunks of time out of me and, once he went past, I didn’t think I’d be able to follow,” admitted Stoner. “I tried really hard to stay in there and had a good battle with a lot of nice passes. We touched at the bottom of the hill, but it was a good, clean fight and I’m pleased to come away with a podium.”
“I thought it was maybe possible to make fourth or fifth place, but I thought it would be very difficult. I certainly didn’t expect this,” declared Rossi. “I felt some pain from my leg and my shoulder, but the battle with Casey was so much fun I didn’t really think about it. Unfortunately though, he got the better of me on the last corner. This is a fantastic result though after missing four races.”
Dovizioso finished fifth, with Simoncelli achieving his best premier class result to date in sixth. American duo Hayden and Ben Spies were seventh and eighth respectively, with Héctor Barberá and Marco Melandri completing the top ten.
The final two riders to complete the race in 11th and 12th were Loris Capirossi and stand-in rider Alex de Angelis. Colin Edwards had crashed out on lap seven of the original race.
Lorenzo now has 185 points at the top of the standings, with Pedrosa second on 138 and Dovizioso third on 102. Stoner moves into fourth, 19 points off Dovizioso.
MotoGP Race – Sachsenring | MotoGP Championship |
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 28’50.476 2 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha ESP 0’03.355 3 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 0’05.257 4 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 0’05.635 5 Andrea Dovizioso Honda ITA 0’17.158 6 Marco Simoncelli Honda ITA 0’17.757 7 Nicky Hayden Ducati USA 0’17.935 8 Ben Spies Yamaha USA 0’20.957 9 Hector Barbera Ducati ESP 0’22.000 10 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 0’35.217 11 Loris Capirossi Suzuki ITA 0’45.042 12 Alex De Angelis Honda SMR 0’45.204 | 1. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha ESP 185 2. Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 138 3. Andrea Dovizioso Honda ITA 102 4. Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 83 5. Nicky Hayden Ducati USA 78 6. Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 74 7. Randy De Puniet Honda FRA 69 8. Ben Spies Yamaha USA 67 9. Marco Simoncelli Honda ITA 49 10. Marco Melandri Honda ITA 45 11. Hector Barbera Ducati ESP 41 12. Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 39 13. Loris Capirossi Suzuki ITA 30 14. Aleix Espargaro Ducati ESP 28 15. Alvaro Bautista Suzuki ESP 25 |
— Yamaha Report The German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring today provided a thrilling afternoon’s racing, with Jorge Lorenzo finishing second and his resurgent Fiat Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi rounding off a remarkable return from injury to finish fourth by a mere whisker. A red flag after nine laps meant the race was restarted, with Dani Pedrosa eventually taking the win after a 21-lap ‘second’ race. Starting from pole for the fourth race in a row, Lorenzo lost ground to Pedrosa at the start but retook the lead on the first lap and led the way by a couple of tenths for the first nine laps. Rossi meanwhile, back racing just six weeks after breaking his leg, had dropped two places on his grid position to seventh. On the second lap he passed Hector Barbera and then loomed up behind Marco Simoncelli, passing his fellow Italian to take fifth on lap four. The World Champion had more than a second’s gap to Andrea Dovizioso but he quickly started to close down on him and was in range on the ninth lap, passing him on the tenth. By then however an incident involving three riders had caused the race to be red-flagged and, with positions then taken from the end of the ninth lap, that left the top five in almost their original grid order of Lorenzo, Pedrosa, Stoner, Dovizioso and Rossi. Thirteen riders restarted the race and it was the same story all over again, with Pedrosa passing Lorenzo into turn one but the championship-leader getting back through before the end of the first lap. The next few laps saw the two Spanish riders in some superb wheel-to-wheel action as Lorenzo tried and failed to shake Pedrosa off, the pair maintaining a nail-biting distance of about a tenth for several laps. After three wins in a row however Lorenzo finally succumbed today and on lap nine he was unable to hold his compatriot off any longer, sensibly deciding to bring his M1 home in second place for 20 points. The 23-year-old has now finished in first or second place at every one of the eight rounds this season. The restart saw Rossi again lose some ground but he passed Hayden second time around to retake fifth and set off in pursuit of the leaders. On the sixth lap he got by Dovizioso but with a near two-second gap to Stoner it looked unlikely that the Italian would make much headway on the Australian. Rossi is always one to amaze however and he was soon lapping at the same pace as the leaders to bring himself within striking distance of Stoner with a third of the race remaining. The final six laps saw some superb action between the two rivals, with Rossi looking as if he had never been away and several brilliant overtaking manoeuvres from both riders. On the penultimate lap Rossi took the lead in what looked like a decisive move but on the final corner Stoner somehow found a way back through and the nine-time Champion was forced to settle for fourth, albeit probably the most impressive fourth position of his career. Lorenzo’s championship lead now stands at 47 points from Pedrosa, whilst Rossi moves up one place to sixth. The paddock now heads directly to Laguna Seca in California for the US Grand Prix in one weeks time. Jorge Lorenzo – Position: 2nd Time: +3.355 Valentino Rossi – Position: 4th Time: +5.623 Wilco Zeelenberg – Team Manager Davide Brivio – Team Manager Spies storms to battling eighth in Sachsenring Ben Spies continued his fantastic charge towards the top five in the MotoGP world championship standings this afternoon after a richly deserved eighth place in a restarted German MotoGP race. Facing a difficult challenge after starting in a lowly 13th position following an incident-packed qualifying session, Spies was in hot pursuit of a top eight finish when the scheduled 30-lap race was red flagged on lap ten after a three-rider incident. The race was restarted over 21-laps and Spies lost contact with the group in front of him when Mika Kallio crashed at the first corner. The 26-year-old sat in tenth position for the open ing seven laps before he managed to expertly guide his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 machine by Marco Melandri on lap nine having already disposed of Hector Barbera. At that stage Spies was over five seconds behind compatriot Nicky Hayden, but the reigning World Superbike champion was able to embark on a stunning charge in front of 98,477 fans. His lap times were only bettered by the leading quartet at one stage and Spies was able to lap over a second faster than the group contending fifth spot in front of him. By the end he’d closed to within two seconds of Hayden and Spies was delighted with his pace, confident had he not started so far down the field that he would been able to seriously threaten for a place in the top five. A difficult weekend for Colin Edwards ended in disappointing fashion. Despite numerous changes to the set-up of his Monster Yamaha YZR-M1 machine throughout the weekend, Edwards was unable to discover a setting that allowed him to push at the fast pace he is capable of. And his hopes of maintaining his proud record of scoring points in every race were ended when he crashed out of 16th position shortly before the race was red flagged. Spies and Edwards now turn their attention to the all-important American MotoGP race at Laguna Seca. It is the eagerly anticipated home race for the Texan duo and both are determined to deliver strong results for an expectant and partisan crowd. Ben Spies – Position: 8thTime: +20.957 Colin Edwards – Position: DNF Herve Poncharal – Team Manager — Ducati Report Ducati Marlboro Team rider Casey Stoner picked up his third podium finish in as many races at Sachsenring today with a stunning fight for third position, which wasn’t decided until the last corner. The Australian started from second on the grid and was running in third place when a crash further down the order led to a red flag and restart after nine laps. Nicky Hayden had made a stunning start to the first race, charging from fifteenth on the grid to ensure sixth spot on the reformed grid. He made up another position in the second race but was unlucky to be passed by two riders after losing the front of his Desmosedici GP10 just three laps from the end, leaving him in an otherwise creditable seventh. Stoner held third for much of the 21-lap affair but a late challenge from Valentino Rossi saw the pair swap positions several times before Stoner made his decisive move at the bottom of the ‘Waterfall’ section. CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 3rd NICKY HAYDEN – (Ducati Marlboro Team) 7th Vittoriano Guareschi, Team Manager — HRC Report Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) won a dominant victory in this afternoon’s German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring. The Spaniard got the better of World Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) to score his second victory of the 2010 season. Pedrosa’s team-mate Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V) won a tight contest with Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) for fifth place, making it three Hondas in the top six. The podium was completed by Casey Stoner (Ducati) who won a last-corner duel with Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) who was returning to action six weeks after breaking his right leg at Mugello. With round nine of the 2010 MotoGP series taking place in California next weekend, the MotoGP circus is already making its way west towards Laguna Seca. Today’s race – run in warm, dry conditions following a morning downpour – was stopped and restarted following a three-bike accident that left Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V) nursing a broken left leg. The Frenchman crashed on lap ten of what should have been a 30 lap race, his fallen machine bringing down Alvaro Bautista (Suzuki) and Aleix Espargaro (Ducati). In the first race Pedrosa had shadowed leader Lorenzo and in the 21-lap restart he once again followed his compatriot, before beginning his attack shortly before half distance. Between the two races Pedrosa’s crew had made a small tweak to his suspension settings which allowed him to mount a stronger challenge. On lap nine he briefly got into the lead at turn one, only to run wide and allow Lorenzo back in front. The following lap he repeated the pass and this time made it stick. Pedrosa then built a commanding lead for his first success since his runaway win in last month’s Italian Grand Prix. His tenth career MotoGP win strengthens his second position in the championship, though he still lags 47 points behind Lorenzo. Dovizioso ran fourth in the first race and had a busier time in the restart, spending the last half of the 21 laps fighting back and forth with Simoncelli and Nick Hayden (Ducati). With three laps to go he was at the back of the three-man group but he planned the last few laps to perfection, picking off his fellow Italian and Hayden to net a useful points haul that keeps him third in the World Championship. Simoncelli enjoyed the race immensely, swapping positions several times a lap. The 2008 250 World Champion had one last go at beating Dovizioso at the final turn, but ran wide. Nevertheless his sixth-place result is his best so far in the elite class and sends him to Laguna Seca in optimistic mood. Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) finished in tenth place, still suffering from the dislocated left shoulder he sustained at Assen a few weeks ago. This anti-clockwise circuit, with its run of seven consecutive left-handers in the middle of the lap, has been particularly tough on Melandri who found it difficult just to make the finish. Alex de Angelis (Interwetten Honda MotoGP RC212V) had a challenging return to MotoGP, coming into this race as replacement for the injured Hiroshi Aoyama, without any testing. The San Marino rider had a high-speed tumble in yesterday’s qualifying session and finished the race in 12th place. De Puniet is a definite non-starter for next Sunday’s US Grand Prix after sustaining a broken left tibia and fibula. De Puniet tumbled as he accelerated out of the turn four right-hander. His bike came to a halt on the track, where it was struck by Espargaro and Bautista. He was then hit by another rider. Neither Espargaro nor Bautista suffered serious injury but they weren’t allowed to take part in the restart because they couldn’t get their damaged machines back to the pits. Tonight Puniet will undergo surgery at the nearby Hartmannsdorf hospital where surgeons will pin the fractures. Toni Elias (Gresini Racing Moto2, Moriwaki) bounced back from a difficult few races to win today’s Moto2 race ahead of pole-sitter Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up, Speed Up). Elias may have led the World Championship since his second Moto2 race win in May’s French GP at Le Mans, but this was his first win since Le Mans. The Spaniard attributed the turnaround to crucial set-up work done during the post-Catalan GP tests at Aragon, yesterday’s qualifying session and morning warm-up. Elias had to work extra hard this afternoon, recovering from a first-turn collision that had left him 11th at the end of the first lap. Five riders, towards the back of the pack, didn’t even make it through turn one, though there were no injuries in this pile-up. By two-thirds distance Elias had fought his way into second place. From there he hunted down Iannone, who had led from the second lap and had looked likely to score his third win from the last five races of the Honda-powered series. Once Elias was ahead, Iannone had little answer for his rival who seemed to have more grip to play with. The final place on today’s podium went to Roberto Rolfo (Italtrans S.T.R, Suter) who fought a thrilling end-of-race duel with former 250 rival and fellow 250 GP winner Fonsi Nieto (Holiday Gym G22, Moriwaki). Nieto passed Rolfo on the penultimate lap, but Rolfo took back third place on the final lap to beat the Spaniard by just two tenths of a second. It was his first GP podium result since the 2004 Spanish 250 GP at Jerez. Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing, Suter) was the last rider in the group battling for third, finishing six tenths behind Nieto. The action throughout the rest of the pack was typically Moto2 – fast and frantic, with lots of jostling for position. The next 12 riders were covered by just ten seconds, that particular contest won by Gabor Talmacsi (Fimmco Speed Up, Speed Up), who had spent much of the race in what looked like a safe second place until he started slipping down the order. The Hungarian crossed the line with Damian Cudlin (Tenerife 40 Pons, Pons Kalex) right on his rear wheel. Cudlin is subbing for Axel Pons, injured at Assen. Top German finisher was Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing, Suter) in ninth. Shoya Tomizawa (Technomag-CIP, Suter), winner of the first Moto2 race in Qatar, finished out of the points in 18th place. With eight races done and nine to go of the 2010 Moto2 series, Elias now leads the championship by 42 points from Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Moriwaki Moto2, Moriwaki) who slid out of today’s race. Iannone sits a further four points behind Luthi. Julian Simon (Mapfre Aspar Team, Suter) dropped one place to fourth overall after he too slid out of today’s race. Marcel Schrötter (Interwetten Honda 125 Team) gambled on fitting rain tyres for the 125 GP, the first race of the day, following this morning’s heavy rain. The track was still damp in places when the race got underway, allowing Schrötter to hold second place for the first five laps. But as the track dried he was unable to compete with the majority of the riders who had chosen slicks, so he slipped down the order, nevertheless achieving his fourth points score of the year with 14th place. The race was won by World Championship leader Marc Marquez (Derbi). Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V): winner “I’m very happy because we are back winning races and it’s a great feeling. It wasn’t easy today because when the race is stopped and restarted like that, sometimes you don’t have the same feeling on the machine in the second part. Also you get nervous again on the grid and it’s possible you won’t have the same pace after the restart. But it went very well for us in both races. In the first one I was very close to Lorenzo and the pace was good, but then they stopped the race and we looked at each other saying, “Why?”. It was even better in the second part. We just made one small change with the rear suspension to get a bit more traction, but we didn’t change the tyre because we didn’t have any new tyres left – we went with the same ones. I made another good start and in the first laps after Lorenzo had passed me I was pushing very to try to take him back. I couldn’t do it with my first attempt, but when I got a second chance I just went for it. Then it was a great feeling to stretch ahead and get the victory – the team deserve it. This victory is even better than the one in Italy because at Mugello I just went away in front and there was no battle with anybody, but here I was battling with Lorenzo in the first and second races, and I finally beat him, so this is even more important. Also before the race we were not 100 per cent sure about what the weather would do, but it stayed clear and finally the weekend has ended perfectly. I was really looking forward to wear the Spain shirt on the podium. It was difficult to get it because it wasn’t in the shops and I really wanted to celebrate a win like that. I also want to thank the team because they worked really well this weekend, the bike was very good from Friday onwards and this is the form we need so we can to keep this consistency going from now on.” Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V): 5th “I really gave it everything today so of course I cannot be happy to finish fifth, especially after qualifying in fourth. Simply I was not fast enough to stay with the top riders today and in fact I was riding very aggressively and maybe even overriding a little to try and stay with them. When you do this you use up the tyre more quickly and also use more energy so I knew it wasn’t the right way, but I had to try to stay with the frontrunners. This weekend we didn’t quite find the right electronics set-up and machine settings, and between the first and second parts of the race we tried to change some electronics settings because the set-up was not 100 per cent in the first part. I was losing a lot in turn seven, turn 12 and on the straight because I didn’t have the perfect set-up to use all the potential of the bike. Now I’m just looking forward to Laguna Seca next week and to getting right up front and being fully competitive again. My compliments go to Dani today. He rode at an incredible pace and the win is good for the team.” Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V): 6th “That was the most fun I’ve had in a MotoGP race since the start of my debut season. Obviously sixth place is an important result but the thing that gives me most pleasure is the incredible battle I was in for the entire race. I had so much fun over the last few laps in the fight with Dovizioso and Hayden – it was like a minibike race! We were passing each other a couple of times on each lap and I enjoyed myself so much that I don’t even care that I missed out on fifth place. I tried one last pass on Dovizioso in the final corner and I got inside him but I braked too late and ran wide. I am still really happy though and I have to say I got a little lucky because at the restart I was able to fit a different tyre that we’d already used in practice and that allowed me to set a faster pace over the first few laps. I’m really pleased and I would like to thank Honda, San Carlo, Team Gresini, all the crew and my chief mechanic Aligi. ” Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V): 10th “That was a particularly difficult race and I didn’t have a good feeling from the start. After around ten laps I had no more strength in my arm and I started to feel a lot of pain. There are so many left corners here and I totally lost my rhythm – all I could think of was making it to the end.” Alex de Angelis (Interwetten Honda MotoGP RC212V): 12th “I am very happy with the result. My team supported me a lot and helped me during this Sachsenring event. The second race start was lucky for us, because we were able to collect more data to prepare the next race. I am very fast in the corners, but I still have problems on the brakes. We can improve more, I am sure of that. I want to thank the team for their effort and I want to apologize for destroying a bike yesterday.” Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V): DNF — Suzuki Report Rizla Suzuki racer Loris Capirossi brought his Suzuki GSV-R home in 11th place during today’s German Grand Prix, whilst team-mate Álvaro Bautista was forced to miss the second half of a two-part race following a red flag incident. Capirossi and Bautista were both battling for top-10 finishes during the first part of the race and the latter had just posted his fastest lap, before Randy de Puniet crashed on lap 10. Capirossi was in close vicinity to the accident but missed the falling rider, however Bautista was not so fortunate and had to take evasive action to avoid de Puniet, but couldn’t avoid the stricken Honda. The race was immediately red flagged due to de Puniet’s injuries and the three crashed motorcycles on the track – Aleix Espargaro was also involved in the incident. Sadly for Bautista and Espargaro they were unable to join the re-start, due to the regulations, and had to sit out the second part of the race. Capirossi began part two of the race – which had now been reduced to 21-laps – from 11th on the grid, but he was unable to find any grip from the tyre he used for the re-start and wasn’t able to make any advances through the field. Today’s incident filled race at Sachsenring was watched by 98,477 fans in warm but overcast conditions. They saw Spaniard Dani Pedrosa win from World Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo. Rizla Suzuki now immediately embarks on a transatlantic journey to Laguna Seca in California for the ninth round of the MotoGP World Championship to be held next Sunday. Álvaro Bautista: “It has been a bit of a disaster today. I didn’t start that well and I couldn’t get enough warmth in the right-side of the tyre early on. After the first few laps I managed to get a good rhythm and was able to stay with the group for top-10 positions. After nine laps Randy crashed and I had some riders in front of me and I couldn’t see where his bike was on the track, but when the other riders disappeared I saw the bike in front of me and I couldn’t do anything to avoid it, so I crashed. I then couldn’t get to the box with my bike, so I couldn’t start again. The regulation is the regulation, but in this case maybe there could’ve been an exception because I crashed because of Randy not for something I had done. We must continue learning, like we have done this weekend, because at the moment this is the most important thing.” Loris Capirossi: “Overall we worked quite hard this weekend to find the best setting and we wanted to make a modification today for the race in warm-up, but unfortunately it was wet so we couldn’t try it. We decided to try a different setting in the race and some electronic modifications and in the first part of the race it worked really well. It was the best the bike had been all weekend and I had a good feeling and was sure I could get past some of the guys in front of me. After the red flag we decided to change to a used tyre from yesterday because there were no new ones left, and it just didn’t work and I had no feeling at all from the beginning until the end – zero grip! I ended up fighting with de Angelis to keep my place. This result is a bad position for us, but overall we have learned a lot of things today. I think without the stop in the race our result today would’ve been much better.” Paul Denning – Team Manager: “We knew that the potential had at least improved following Barcelona, but today was massively frustrating. In the first part of the race both the guys found a good rhythm and were able to race with the group from sixth place backwards. Álvaro had just set his fastest lap when the accident happened and whilst we respect the rule book completely, I would imagine there will be some careful discussion for the future, because with only 17 bikes on the grid it is definitely a problem for the show to have fit riders and good bikes sat in the pit after an incident like that when they should be out there racing. “The second part of the race was a disaster for Loris from the very first lap, he used a tyre that had done a few laps yesterday, but he just couldn’t get any grip at all and that stayed the same for the full race distance, He toughed it out and brought the bike home, but all-in-all it was a disappointing end, given the potential the two riders showed in the first part of the race.” — Bridgestone Report ridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Hard, Extra Hard. Rear: Hard, Extra Hard (asymmetric) Casey Stoner and Valentino Rossi traded positions furiously in the closing stages, but it was Stoner with a decisive move on the last lap who claimed the final step of the podium. During the red flag period, before the race was restarted, several riders took advantage of the break at one third race distance and changed their slick tyres. Nicky Hayden changed to a harder rear and Marco Melandri chose a softer front. Stoner and Loris Capirossi replaced their rear tyres with used items of the same specification but with fewer miles. Marco Simoncelli’s front and rear tyres and Alex de Angelis’ rear tyre were also replaced with brand new items of the same specification. Hiroshi Yamada – Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Department Tohru Ubukata – Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Race Winner |
Moto2 Toni Elías’ third win of the season came at Sachsenring today, as the Gresini Racing rider triumphed in the Moto2 class, extending his advantage at the top of the championship standings. An opening-lap crash saw five riders in the gravel trap, as Raffaele De Rosa collected Héctor Faubel, Ricky Cardús, Joan Olivé and Lukas Pesek after crashing at turn one. Faubel and De Rosa rejoined the race, but the Italian was eventually forced to retire just a few laps before the end. Clear of the trouble at the front was the Fimmco Speed Up pair of Gabor Talmacsi and Andrea Iannone, with Julián Simón chasing hard in third. Another faller came in the shape of Yuki Takahashi and shortly after Simón’s participation was ended early when he slid out whilst pushing hard to keep on the tail of Talmacsi. Home rider Arne Tode, who had qualified in second position, Alex Debón and Sergio Gadea also fell, with an early end to a frustrating weekend following shortly after for Thomas Lüthi. With 11 laps remaining Elías was well on the way to recovering from a start that had seen him drop from his starting position of third, charging up the order and through on Talmacsi – who started to drop back as his tyres went off – with Simone Corsi also passing the Hungarian. The Italian’s race ended on lap 20 however when he lost the front of his machine at turn 12 when in third position. The experienced Elías was closing in all the while on race leader Iannone and six laps from the end the championship leader made his move, taking first position. Roberto Rolfo was moving up the order too and went through on the by now frustrated Talmacsi, who was unable to do anything. A fantastic last-lap battle for third played out between Rolfo and Fonsi Nieto was eventually being won by the Italian, after Elías had crossed the line 3.297s clear of Iannone for his third win of the season. Nieto took fourth, with Karel Abraham fifth and Talmacsi sixth. A fantastic ride from stand-in rider Damian Cudlin for the Tenerife 40 Pons team handed the Australian seventh. Elías now has 136 points at the top of the standings, 42 clear of second-placed Lüthi after his DNF. Iannone moves into third, just four points off the Swiss rider thanks to his third podium of the season. MOTO2 RIDER QUOTES Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up, Speed Up): 2nd “I got pole yesterday but unfortunately I was unable to win the race. My congratulations to Toni and his team. For some reason I didn’t quite have the same feeling that I had on the bike yesterday, so I wasn’t able to maintain my pace. Roberto Rolfo (Italtrans S.T.R, Suter): 3rd “It is very nice to be back – the feeling is absolutely fantastic. I am very happy, because I like this track very much; in fact it was here that I scored my first GP win in 2003! I have enjoyed riding here and since the first session we have worked to improve on our usual setting. So far this year we have often been fast but we have been unable to get a good result. I was very concentrated for this race. It was nice to fight up front again. I am really enjoying this new category.” |
Moto2 Race Results |
1 / Toni ELIAS / SPA / Gresini Racing Moto2 / MORIWAKI / 41’57.745 / 152.22 / 2 / Andrea IANNONE / ITA / Fimmco Speed Up / SPEED UP / 42’01.042 / 152.021 / 3.297 3 / Roberto ROLFO / ITA / Italtrans S.T.R. / SUTER / 42’04.319 / 151.824 / 6.574 4 / Fonsi NIETO / SPA / Holiday Gym G22 / MORIWAKI / 42’04.526 / 151.811 / 6.781 5 / Karel ABRAHAM / CZE / Cardion AB Motoracing / FTR / 42’05.141 / 151.774 / 7.396 6 / Gabor TALMACSI / HUN / Fimmco Speed Up / SPEED UP / 42’07.300 / 151.644 / 9.555 7 / Damian CUDLIN / AUS / Tenerife 40 Pons / PONS KALEX / 42’07.442 / 151.636 / 9.697 8 / Dominique AEGERTER / SWI / Technomag-CIP / SUTER / 42’09.118 / 151.535 / 11.373 9 / Stefan BRADL / GER / Viessmann Kiefer Racing / SUTER / 42’10.897 / 151.429 / 13.152 10 / Yonny HERNANDEZ / COL / Blusens-STX / BQR-MOTO2 / 42’11.471 / 151.395 / 13.726 11 / Alex BALDOLINI / ITA / Caretta Technology / I.C.P. / 42’13.547 / 151.271 / 15.802 12 / Jules CLUZEL / FRA / Forward Racing / SUTER / 42’15.411 / 151.159 / 17.666 13 / Anthony WEST / AUS / MZ Racing Team / MZ-RE HONDA / 42’23.672 / 150.668 / 25.927 14 / Vladimir IVANOV / UKR / Gresini Racing Moto2 / MORIWAKI / 42’24.221 / 150.636 / 26.476 15 / Xavier SIMEON / BEL / Holiday Gym Racing / MORIWAKI / 42’24.371 / 150.627 / 26.626 World Championship Positions: 1 ELIAS 136, 2 LUTHI 94, 3 IANNONE 90, 4 SIMON 77, 5 TOMIZAWA 76, 6 CORSI 65, 7 CLUZEL 61, 8 TAKAHASHI 52, 9 TALMACSI 52, 10 GADEA 47, 11 NIETO 38, 12 DEBON 37, 13 ROLFO 37, 14 ABRAHAM 33, 15 WILAIROT 25. |
125cc Marc Márquez’s dominance of the 125cc class continued today at the eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland, where the 17 year-old Red Bull Ajo Motorsport rider benefitted from a late crash for Pol Espargaró to take a fifth consecutive win, with Tomoyoshi Koyama and Sandro Cortese completing the podium in a thrilling contest. It was a noticeably nervy grid prior to the start of the race as riders and teams tried to best judge what tyre combinations to go for, with the wet track fast drying out. Home riders Jonas Folger and Marcel Schrötter opted for full wet front and rear, giving them an early advantage as they got clear at the front with Folger leading by 2.4s from his compatriot. The first crasher of the race was Alberto Moncayo, with a host of riders fortunate not to be taken out by the young Spaniard’s bike, and as the surface continued to dry quickly the early gap opened by Folger and Schrötter had been swallowed up by lap six as Márquez and Espargaró overtook. The pair initiated a battle for the lead at the front and started to open a gap back to the remainder, and further back Folger had a run off as his race ran into difficulties. A quartet comprising Randy Krummenacher, Esteve Rabat, Bradley Smith and Koyama had by then established themselves as the group contending for what looked to be the only remaining podium spot by mid-race distance. The Márquez-Espargaró battle continued to rage in an aggressive manner and the championship leader experienced a momentary wobble on his Derbi machine as the pace remained high. As the final quarter of the race unfolded Cortese had done an admirable job of pulling himself up to the group fighting for third. On lap 24 of 27 Krummenacher suffered the bitter disappointment of crashing at turn one as he pushed hard to maintain third position, thus opening the door to the remaining challengers. More drama, which would affect the race lead, was to come on the next lap however. With Espargaró in front of Márquez the Tuenti Racing rider’s rear tyre touched the astroturf on the side of the track and he was thrown from his bike, Márquez only narrowly avoiding being taken out as well. Unable to restart his machine and get back on track the race was over for the 19-year-old, as Márquez cruised on to victory by a margin of 17.578s. The crash of Espargaró elevated Koyama to second position, a great result for his team in their home GP, with home rider Cortese edging Rabat in the dying stages of the final lap to complete the podium, his first of the campaign and one which naturally delighted the fervent German crowd. Rabat and Smith completed the top five, with Johann Zarco, Danny Webb, Efrén Vázquez, Sturla Fagerhaug and wildcard rider Dani Kartheininger in the top ten. Krummenacher eventually finished 11th. In total 13 riders failed to finish the race. The result means Márquez now holds a 26-point lead at the top of the Championship, with Espargaró remaining second and the absent Nico Terol third. The win was also the 100th in GP racing for Derbi. |
125cc Race Results |
1 / Marc MARQUEZ / SPA / Red Bull Ajo / DERBI / 41’28.274 / 143.401 / 2 / Tomoyoshi KOYAMA / JPN / Germany / APRILIA / 41’45.852 / 142.395 / 17.578 3 / Sandro CORTESE / GER / Avant Mitsu Ajo / DERBI / 41’46.537 / 142.356 / 18.263 4 / Esteve RABAT / SPA / Blusens-STX / APRILIA / 41’47.372 / 142.308 / 19.098 5 / Bradley SMITH / GBR / Bancaja Aspar Team / APRILIA / 41’47.987 / 142.273 / 19.713 6 / Johann ZARCO / FRA / WTR San Marino Team / APRILIA / 42’13.250 / 140.855 / 44.976 7 / Danny WEBB / GBR / Andalucia Cajasol / APRILIA / 42’21.517 / 140.396 / 53.243 8 / Efren VAZQUEZ / SPA / Tuenti Racing / DERBI / 42’21.576 / 140.393 / 53.302 9 / Sturla FAGERHAUG / NOR / AirAsia Sepang / APRILIA / 42’21.863 / 140.377 / 53.589 10 / Daniel KARTHEININGER / GER / Freudenberg / KTM / 42’33.352 / 139.746 / 1’05.078 11 / Randy KRUMMENACHE / SWI / Stipa-Molenaar / APRILIA / 42’41.758 / 139.287 / 1’13.484 12 / Lorenzo SAVADORI / ITA / Matteoni CP / APRILIA / 42’41.993 / 139.274 / 1’13.719 13 / Alexis MASBOU / FRA / Ongetta Team / APRILIA / 42’49.953 / 138.843 / 1’21.679 14 / Marcel SCHROTTER / GER / Interwetten Honda / HONDA / 42’09.972 / 135.813 / 1 lap 15 / Zulfahmi KHAIRUDDIN / MAL / AirAsia Sepang / APRILIA / 42’12.796 / 135.662 / 1 lap World Championship Positions: 1 MARQUEZ 157, 2 ESPARGARO 131, 3 TEROL 118, 4 SMITH 105, 5 KOYAMA 77, 6 CORTESE 76, 7 VAZQUEZ 68, 8 RABAT 63, 9 KRUMMENACHER 63, 10 ZARCO 55, 11 WEBB 48, 12 MONCAYO 25, 13 FOLGER 23, 14 MASBOU 20, 15 IWEMA 20. |
Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup –
Jake Gagne made it a double victory weekend with another masterly display in the second Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup race of the German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring. The 16 year old Californian was again chased across the line by 14 year old South African Brad Binder with 15 year old Japanese Daijiro Hiura 3rd, making up for his 15th place finish on Saturday.
Gagne stormed into the Cup points lead as nearest rivals Daniel Ruiz and Danny Kent both crashed. Kent remounted to finish 12th and now lies 2nd in the table, 14 points behind Gagne with Ruiz 3rd, another 10 points adrift but 4 clear of Hiura who is 4th.
“I was pretty confident I could do it again,” said Gagne. “It was a good race yesterday and there was no reason why it should be different. At one point Brad and I got away from the others a bit but I wasn’t too surprised when they closed back up again. Then it was all one group and I pretty much played it like yesterday and managed to get away just before the end. I knew that Brad was with me again but he’s a good guy and I didn’t expect him to do anything crazy and take us both out. I knew he was a little bit frustrated that he couldn’t get past me at the last corners yesterday but I was strong there and I braked even a bit deeper and held on.”
Binder made a slightly easier race for himself than Saturday with a sensational start from his 9th place qualifying place on the 3rd row of the grid. “Yah, the start was fantastic, I think I was about fourth going into the first corner. Then I got up with Jake and he and I went away a bit but we couldn’t stay clear of the group. Then later on I had a go at leading but also couldn’t get away. On the last lap I really wanted to have a go at Jake but he was just too good today… next time,” he concluded with a grin.
Hiura’s third made the Japanese smile for what seemed the first time in the weekend. “Yes I wasn’t happy with one point yesterday. But I knew that I had found quite a good rhythm and if I didn’t have trouble I could make a good result. I didn’t make a great start but we could close the gap on Jake and Brad so it was a great race. On the last lap I was going to try and win but I made a slight mistake and lost them so I will have to wait until Brno.”
Kent was philosophical about his meagre points tally after a great ride. “My start wasn’t bad but I got squeezed from both sides going into the first corner, I was almost stopped and dead last going down the hill. I think made up 8 seconds to catch the leaders but I must have taken too much out of the tyres because when I fell I wasn’t doing anything different. At least I did get a few points out of it,” concluded the 16 year old Briton who had charged brilliantly through the field and was up to 4th when he fell on the last lap. He remounted to take 4 points for 12th
Similarly reflective was 18 year old Spaniard Ruiz who was unhurt when he crashed out of the lead group on lap one taking Kevin Calia with him. “Honestly I don’t know what I did wrong, I lost the front and unfortunately took Kevin out as well. I have lost a lot of points but I just have to come back at the next race.”
The pack that chased down Gagne and Binder was headed by 16 year old Italian Alejandro Pardo who put together a string of quick laps and may well have got on the podium after a number of great passing moves but over the last few laps things got a bit ragged. “I didn’t make a good start but the bike was perfect, this is my favourite track and that corner at the bottom of the tight section where I passed Jake (Gagne) is a lot of fun. By the end though my tyres were destroyed and that’s why I was having trouble.”
At the last corner Pardo barged inside Tomas Vavrous to take fourth leaving the Czech 16 year old with rubber down his left thigh from Pardo’s front tyre. “I didn’t mean to push him out,” explained the Italian. It made a pair of excellent rides this weekend for Vavrous who was 8th on Saturday and 5th on Sunday. “I enjoyed that a lot even though this has never been a favourite track for my. The bike was great and it was just the final corner that I had trouble with in both races, yesterday I missed a gear and this time Pardo came inside. Anyway I still enjoyed it.”
The next Rookies Cup races are on August 14th and 15th as part of the Grand Prix of the Czech Republic at Brno with a single race to conclude the season at Misano on September 4th.