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MotoGP: Quotes From Sachsenring

19th July 2010

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After race quotes from the top riders at Sachsenring German MotoGP

Dani Pedrosa: Repsol Honda 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."

Jorge Lorenzo: 2nd
"It's always difficult when a race is split like this and I think I didn't ride quite as well in the second race as I felt I had been doing in the first. Dani was very, very strong and I was on the limit trying to stay ahead. When he passed me I tried briefly to stay with him but he was much faster than me today and I was going to have to take a lot of risks to stay with him; the safest thing for me to do was finish second and take 20 points for the championship. I am happy because I never really liked this track and now I've been second here two years in a row. Now we go to Laguna and I am very excited about racing there again."

Casey Stoner Ducati 3rd
"In the first part of the race I didn’t have such a good feeling and I was doing everything I could to stay with Dani and Jorge but tenth by tenth they were pulling away from me. So, for the second part of the race we changed to a tyre we’d already used yesterday and I immediately found more grip and was able to run faster lap times. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get past Dovi at the start so the front two opened a gap and by the time I got up to third place they were gone. We saw in the first race that Valentino’s pace was a little better than ours and that proved to be the case again in the second race. He was taking big chunks of time out of me and to be honest once he got past I didn’t think I’d be able to follow. I tried really hard to stay in there and we had a good battle with a lot of nice passes. I tried one last time at the bottom of the hill, where he tried to close the line on me but I was already there. We touched but it was a good, clean fight and I’m just pleased to come away with a podium. We had hoped to be a little closer to the front here but we’re happy with this."

Valentino Rossi: 4th
"I didn't expect this! I thought it was maybe possible to make fourth or fifth place but I thought it would be very difficult. In the end I was fourth but I had a great battle with Casey and I was so close to the podium, so this is a fantastic result after missing four races. I need some more kilometres to really recover the feeling and feel completely okay with the bike again, but I think I did a great job and this was a very good comeback, better than we could wish for. I felt a bit of pain in my shoulder but more in the leg when changing direction, but at the end the battle with Casey was such fun that I didn't think about it. Unfortunately though he just got the better of me on the last corner! Thanks to all my team for helping me come back and be competitive like this, we will try to do even better in Laguna."

Nicky Hayden - Ducati 7th
"On paper seventh place doesn’t look like a great result but after qualifying fifteenth yesterday actually it’s not so bad. I was running fifth but with a few laps to go I lost the front coming through the Waterfall and went back to seventh, after which I couldn’t really get back to them. Also on the last lap the bike jumped out a gear and I almost crashed so I’m happy to have picked up points. Of course fifth would have been a lot better but I’m proud of my team because yesterday was probably the worst day of our season so far but they worked so hard to change almost everything with the set-up, from the forks to the pivot and the shock. We tested it in the wet morning and it felt okay - I was fifth fastest and comfortable so we rolled the dice and went for it in the race. At the start I was able to recover a lot of positions and got up to sixth when the red flag came out, which did me a favour because it closed the gap back up. I had not the best feeling with the bike for a couple of laps, I was running wide in a lot of places and it was difficult. From there I got into a very aggressive race with Dovi and Simoncelli - I got rubber on both sides of my leathers but you expect that in MotoGP when start fifteenth. It was a good battle with those guys and overall this is a much more positive result than it looks ahead of my home race at Laguna."

Randy De Puniet:
"It can’t be worse than this! I took a bad start from the third row but I was back to ninth and my race pace was pretty good. I could push for the sixth place despite my painful ankle after yesterday’s crash in the qualifying. Suddenly I crashed at exit of turn 4 and one bike hit my left leg. I immediately realized that it was something serious and after the X-ray we discovered the truth".

Sachsenring Results

1. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 28'50.476
2. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team + 3.355
3. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team + 5.257
4. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team + 5.623
5. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) Repsol Honda Team + 17.158
6. Marco Simoncelli (ITA) San Carlo Honda Gresini + 17.757
7. Nicky Hayden (USA) Ducati Marlboro Team + 17.935
8. Ben Spies (USA) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 + 20.957
9. Hector Barbera (SPA) Aspar Team + 22.000
10. Marco Melandri (ITA) San Carlo Honda Gresini + 35.217
11. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP + 45.042
12. Alex de Angelis (ITA) Interwetten Honda MotoGP + 45.204

Not Classified
Mika Kallio (FIN) Pramac Green Team 21 Lap

Not Starting
Colin Edwards (USA) Monster Yamaha Tech 3
Alvaro Bautista (SPA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP
Randy de Puniet (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP
Aleix Espargaro (SPA) Pramac Green Team

Championship Standings
1. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team 185
2. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 138
3. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) Repsol Honda Team 102
4. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team 83
5. Nicky Hayden (USA) Ducati Marlboro Team 78
6. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team 74
7. Randy de Puniet (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP 69
8. Ben Spies (USA) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 67
9. Marco Simoncelli (ITA) San Carlo Honda Gresini 49
10. Marco Melandri (ITA) San Carlo Honda Gresini 45
11. Hector Barbera (SPA) Aspar Team 41
12. Colin Edwards (USA) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 39
13. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 30
14. Aleix Espargaro (SPA) Pramac Green Team 28
15. Alvaro Bautista (SPA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 25
16. Mika Kallio (FIN) Pramac Green Team 24
17. Hiroshi Aoyama (JPN) Interwetten-Honda MotoGP 18
18. Alex de Angelis (ITA) Interwetten Honda MotoGP 4
19. Kousuke Akiyoshi (JPN) Interwetten Honda MotoGP 4
20. Wataru Yoshikawa (JPN) Fiat Yamaha Team 1