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Ducati Marlboro
Team riders Loris Capirossi and Sete Gibernau were in the
thick of the two leading battles during the German Grand
Prix at the Sachsenring on Sunday, the Italian and the
Spanish MotoGP riders eventually coming home fifth and
eighth.
QUALIFYING
Capirossi
and Gibernau were strong performers in qualifying on
Saturday at the sun blessed circuit, lining up in fifth
and seventh quickest for the MotoGP German Grand Prix.
Both riders showed supreme determination in this
afternoon's frantically paced session during which the
pole position record was slashed by almost a second.
Capirossi is still not 100 per cent fit following last
month's Catalan Grand Prix accident but he showed his
race potential by running faster than anyone else on
race tyres. Gibernau has improved step by step after
returning to riding yesterday after having his broken
left collarbone plated on June 20. But the Spaniard is
encountering unexpected problems here due to an inflamed
nerve in the shoulder he injured at Catalunya.
LORIS CAPIROSSI, 5th
fastest, 1m 22.329s: "I tried two different
qualifiers this afternoon, the first I didn't like but
the second was okay and if I hadn't made a mistake at
the final turn I would have been faster. I tried again
but on another fast lap I ran into traffic, so I wasn't
able to improve. Anyway, fifth fastest and second row
isn't so bad. As far as race tyres go we are okay, I ran
a pretty good pace. In fact today was hotter than
yesterday so I used harder tyres and was able to set my
best times in race trim. We still have a few front-end
problems which we hope to solve in morning warm-up. On
the whole I'm happy with the way things are going here
and even though I'll be starting from the second row I
think we can have a good race."
SETE GIBERNAU, 7th
fastest, 1m 22.469s: "The pain is okay, but I
don't seem to have any strength in the arm, so I'm done
through the last part of the track, from the very first
lap. It must be a muscle or a nerve or something that
got irritated in the accident, because the arm just
falls down now, it's got zero strength, so after all the
left-handers here I'm really struggling during braking
for the last two corners. I don't know what we can do.
If it's pain you can deal with pain but I don't know
what we'll do because we can't do something like lock
the arm.
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LORIS CAPIROSSI: "I chose a very hard front tyre so I
didn't push too hard during the first few laps but I
could stay with the leading group quite easily. Then
from half-distance the rear-tyre performance dropped
off every lap, so I ended up defending my position
from Nakano. It's a pity because things seemed
okay." |
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As part of their new
sponsorship agreement with Alfa Romeo, members of
the Ducati Corse team used the Alfa 159s over the
weekend in Germany. |
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SETE GIBERNAU: "Considering my condition, I've got to be
happy with today's race. I think we did a great job,
we did 100 per cent of what we could do, so thanks
to the team, Ducati and Bridgestone for helping me
through a very difficult weekend." |
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Ducati Corse team
members' celebrating the stunning recent FIFA World
Cup victory, by Italy over France, during the MotoGP
at the Sachsenring last weekend. |
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"Maybe I'll just pray for the race because right now
it's very difficult. Apart from that the bike and tyres
are working good and the team is doing a great job.
Things aren't bad apart for this problem."
RACE
Capirossi spent
the first half of the race with the leading group but faded
slightly in the later stages, crossing the finish line just
eight seconds down on the race winner. Gibernau made a brave
comeback following recent collarbone surgery, running with
the group fighting for seventh, despite a weak left
shoulder. The 2006 MotoGP World Championship now travels to
Laguna Seca, California, for next Sunday's United States
Grand Prix, the fifth race in sixth weekends.
LORIS CAPIROSSI, finished
5th, 5th overall: "I chose a very hard front tyre so
I didn't push too hard during the first few laps but I could
stay with the leading group quite easily. Then from
half-distance the rear-tyre performance dropped off every
lap, so I ended up defending my position from Nakano. It's a
pity because things seemed okay. Anyway, we have made a big
step since last year when I finished ninth here, a long way
behind the leaders. The tyres were also much better than
they were at Donington, though still not enough to run with
the winner. Looking at the championship, we still have a
long way to go and although I know that I've lost some
points and that it'll be difficult to come back, I still
believe we can do it and I won't give up. Maybe Laguna will
be another difficult weekend but after that we go to tracks
where we can be as competitive as the fastest ones."
SETE GIBERNAU, finished 8th,
13th overall: "Considering my condition, I've got to
be happy with today's race. I think we did a great job, we
did 100 per cent of what we could do, so thanks to the team,
Ducati and Bridgestone for helping me through a very
difficult weekend. Now I will return home to see my surgeon
in Barcelona to see what can be done for next weekend's
race. I've no pain from the shoulder but it is very weak,
maybe because a nerve has got inflamed. I had no strength in
that shoulder from the start of the race, so it wasn't easy
to get the bike stopped. I would say. I need to get fit
because I feel like Bridgestone are doing a great job,
working in a very good direction, and I think we can have a
great end to the season."
LIVIO SUPPO, Ducati MotoGP
project manager: "Both riders did a great job,
unfortunately we weren't able to be as consistent as we had
been with race tyres during practice. But both guys got the
best out of what they had, especially considering that
neither is 100 per cent fit. Loris was with the leading
group for the first half of the race and Sete fought like a
lion with the second group. As always, thanks to Shell
Advance and Bridgestone and now we have to work very hard
for the next few races."
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