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2008-07-13 Rider impressions after Sachsenring race
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 After another weekend of MotoGP racing, championship battle is still quite close, with three riders having realistic title-chance. Casey Stoner has returned to winning ways, demonstrating brutal force on last three races. Dani Pedrosa today also shown pure determination in opening stages of the race, before crashing from the lead. As always, Rossi is in the front, so we may expect more excitement in one week time in Laguna Seca. Read rider impressions after race in Germany.
Casey Stoner - 1st:
I saw Dani ride off into the distance and I thought 'fair play' - there was no way I could keep that pace in those conditions at that time. We definitely needed a bit more time to get the tyres up to temperature and Dani just kept edging away, but then after a few laps I was coming down the main straight and I could see his bike bouncing around in the gravel at turn one. It's a shame for him but even though he crashed he was still very impressive today. From then on it was a case of keeping my concentration but that wasn't easy because I've been a little sick all weekend and I wasn't feeling at all good during the race. Also, we went with quite a hard rear tyre compound and I had quite a few small moments that made me nervous but kept me on my guard. I kept pushing where I could and managed to keep opening out the advantage with every lap, then kept it upright to the end. It's nice to close the championship down a little bit more and once again I owe a huge 'thank you' to the team, who have adapted the bike to virtually any condition here. This win is dedicated to them.
Valentino Rossi - 2nd:
I’m really happy with this result, even if racing in the rain today wasn’t quite as much fun as I’ve had in some of my past races here! For the championship this is very, very important; I made a mistake last week in Assen and today Dani did the same. It’s unlucky but this is racing and now we are back in front and this is a very good feeling. Dani is tough and we know he will be back fighting at the front, but sincerely at the moment we need to think about how to catch Casey because he has been very fast now for a few races. Once again here we lost some time during the practice trying to find the right setting and we can’t afford to keep doing this. Today we started from the third row and this meant that I had to deal with some confusion at the start and lost some time on the front riders. By the time I got behind Casey my M1 was working very well and I had very good grip with my Bridgestone rain tyres; I felt very confident and I tried hard to push but there was no way to catch him at that stage, so our aim must be to start at the front from now on. Thanks to all my team and engineers; now we have to try to extend this lead in Laguna.
Chris Vermeulen - 3rd:
I am very happy to be on the podium here in Germany. It was a really difficult race, as there was a lot more water than we had practised in on this circuit. I have got to give full credit to Bridgestone as they pushed me to go for a much harder compound than I wanted and it definitely worked. I really want to thank my crew as well, and the Japanese Suzuki staff, as we didn’t really have a lot of set-up in the rain but the bike worked really well. It wasn’t perfect but it was more than capable of getting me home, so I am really pleased to have put it on the podium for them as well. Let’s hope this is the start of a good run and now we are off to a track I enjoy a lot so hopefully we can move up to the top step there!
Ales De Angelis - 4th:
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.
Andrea Dovizioso - 5th:
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.
Sylvain Guintoli – 6th:
Surely a good day for us. This has been a weekend with ups and downs: Friday we were really fast while yesterday, after the morning fall, I felt a lot of pain in the neck and qualifying didn’t go well. But today’s race has gone much better, a pity only for the problem at the traction control: I preferred to switch it off to don’t risk it because I felt much trustful anyway. In this way I had to play a lot with the accelerator and I had a lot of fun. I have to thanks my Team, Ducati and Bridgestone: their support has been really important to reach this result. We will continue to work well together to conquer many more good results.
Loris Capirossi - 7th:
I am really happy for the whole team because Chris did a great job to finish third and I know it means a lot to everyone. I had to fight a lot with myself for the whole race and by half distance I had quite a lot of pain and was finding it very difficult to change direction, but for me the wet conditions helped with the injury. I had a battle with Randy and on the last corner I was able to overtake him and that was really good for me because I was still able to fight even with the injury and I know it will have healed more next time and I’ll be a lot stronger.
Randy De Puniet - 8th:
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.
Shinya Nakano - 9th:
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.
Anthony West - 10th:
I'm disappointed because it was possible for me to finish much higher than tenth today. I got a good start and made up lots of places in the opening laps, eventually closing onto the back of Chris Vermeulen and Alex De Angelis, who were battling for fifth place. I was pushing hard to stay with them when I lost the front under braking for the final turn. It was a stupid mistake to make, but luckily the bike wasn't too badly damaged and I was able to rejoin the race quite quickly. From then it was just a case of getting my head down and trying to retake as many places as possible. It was quite hard, because my injured back was really sore and I couldn't push on the left foot peg, as most of it was snapped off in the crash. This is only my second top ten finish of the season but that's no consolation when I know, but for a stupid mistake, I could have finished much higher today.
James Toseland - 11th:
That was my first wet MotoGP race and I’ve got to admit that while I feel I’ve learned a lot, it was a difficult afternoon. I got an unbelievable start and at the first corner I was fifth and nearly took fourth. I thought I was in business but pretty much straightaway I knew it was going to be difficult to try and go away with the leading group. I had a couple of moments on the opening lap and I started losing places quite quickly. The frustrating thing was I couldn’t do anything to respond. I didn’t want to push too hard because I’d seen Jorge Lorenzo crash in front of me, so I knew I wasn’t the only one struggling for rear grip. I think that coupled with a lack of experience of riding this bike in the rain made it tough. I kind of just got stuck at the pace I was running and couldn’t really go any faster. I’m not going to blame anybody because I’m having a bit of a bad period but a positive from the weekend is I feel we have taken some big strides with the set-up of the bike. I was only half-a-second off the front row and I was fourth in the warm-up, so it has not been a bad weekend. We have eliminated a lot of problems and the team has done a great job, so I am looking forward to getting back closer to where I know I am capable of being and the team is capable of being at Laguna Seca. It is a track I know well, and I go there in a positive frame of mind as always despite having this tough run.
Toni Elias – 12th:
I think that with wet track like today is never easy. Probably we made a mistake with the set up of the bike because I felt a lot of weight on the front and I couldn’t handle the rear. Only in the lasts laps I have registered acceptable lap times. This has probably been one of the worst performances I have done with wet track. The data acquired will be useful if we will meet again this track conditions. I remain positive and I will look for revenge in America.
Nicky Hayden - 13th:
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.
Marco Melandri - DNF
This time I feel angry that we didn't get the result we deserved, not disappointed that we haven't been fast, as has been the case on other occasions. The crash was a real shame because even though there's always the chance of making a mistake in the wet I felt good at that time, the tyres were up to temperature, the bike was working well and I was coming through fast. I don't know how many riders I passed but it was a few and I felt fast, happy and positive. The group ahead of me were some distance away but I felt I could keep improving. In fact, we'd made progress with our pace in the dry and we'll see how we go from here in America. It's a nice track and I hope we can start out well.
Colin Edwards - DNF:
All I can is it was a very tough race right from the start. The conditions were not easy but I got a reasonable start and just wanted to get into a steady pace. But it was obvious from quite early on that it was going to be difficult. I didn’t have a lot of feel from the rear tyre and I tried everything I could to hang in there and keep a top five finish for the team, who have been great all weekend. It would have also kept my own personal good run going. But as the race wore on it wasn’t getting any better and I lost the rear at the downhill left-hander. I had no warning at all and I didn’t feel I was particularly pushing too hard because by that stage a podium had already gone. I was trying to keep Dovizioso behind me to at least finish top Michelin rider. I’d tried to follow Casey and Valentino but I just didn’t have anything for them. Fifth was going to be the best result I could have managed today and that’s a bit disappointing because in the dry I think I could have been fighting for a podium. I’m just grateful I didn’t get hurt in the crash because I’ve got my home race coming up and I desperately want to put on a good performance for the American fans, Tech 3 and Yamaha at Laguna Seca. After this disappointment I’ll be looking to bounce straight back.
Dani Pedrosa - DNF:
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.
Jorge Lorenzo - DNF:
I felt good this morning because I though that I would have a chance to do a good race in the rain. On the warm-up lap however I felt that something wasn’t quite right; I didn’t have enough grip and I lost some confidence then. I made a good start and passed two riders in the first corner, but then I ran too deep and lost the places so I had to push to try to make them up again. The crash happened when I opened the gas coming out of turn four and I lost the rear. It was a pity but I didn’t hurt myself this time and I am not feeling sad for myself tonight, I just feel very bad for the team because they worked too hard all weekend for a result like this. The positive thing about today is that at each race I am feeling better in myself, even though we’re having some problems getting our package work correctly, and now I am just looking forward to racing for the very first time at Laguna.
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