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The MotoGP World Championship crosses its
season equator next weekend as round ten of eighteen sees
the Fiat Yamaha Team land in Germany for the first of
another gruelling double-header. The trucks and hospitality
units have made the short trip across the Dutch border from
Assen to the Sachsenring circuit, where Valentino Rossi and
Colin Edwards will continue their challenge for maximum
points, before leaving the teams and riders to take to the
skies for the transatlantic trip to California and the US
Grand Prix just seven days later.
The Fiat Yamaha Team arrives in Germany
on a high following a morale-boosting victory for Rossi in
Holland, where the Italian closed the gap on current series
leader Casey Stoner to 21 points. That remarkable race was
the third time Rossi has won from a qualifying position of
eleventh - more times than any other rider in the history of
the sport. The first of his memorable charges came at
Donington in 2001, when he crossed the line 1.794 seconds
ahead of Max Biaggi, whilst his second came, coincidentally,
at Sachsenring last year.
After qualifying eleventh, only to be
bumped up to tenth on the grid after Stoner was ruled out
through injury, Rossi charged through to the lead before the
halfway stage and then held off three rivals in a dramatic
charge to the line that ended in the closest ever finish in
MotoGP history, with just 0.307 seconds covering the first
four riders. Rossi's fifth Grand Prix win at the circuit
sparked wild celebrations amongst the Italian fans, who had
already celebrated on German soil just seven days
previously, when their national football team won the World
Cup with a dramatic victory against France in Berlin.
Located in the heartland of the former
East Germany's once glorious motorcycle racing industry, the
Sachsenring is built right next to the old road course, a
characteristic the track shares with Brno in the nearby
Czech Republic. The current circuit could not be more
different, its ultra-modern nature showing in its relatively
slow lap times, with slow corners juxtaposed with some
dazzlingly fast ones - including a stomach-churning downhill
right hander which was added in 2003.
Valentino Rossi
Valentino Rossi has had five victories at the Sachsenring
circuit in all classes, including success in the MotoGP race
for the past two seasons with Yamaha. After the national
euphoria surrounding his World Cup-themed celebrations
following last year's win, the 28-year-old is hoping to
provide more Italian cheer this weekend by scoring his
country's 200th premier-class Grand Prix victory.
"After the
fantastic race in Assen I'm really looking forward to
Sachsenring," says Rossi.
"Last year in Germany we
qualified 11th and won, last week in Assen we did the same
thing! Of course, I would much rather start from the front
but anyway I'm feeling confident. The Yamaha works very well
in Sachsenring and I've had a lot of good wins there in my
career. We know, however, that Casey will be strong again,
like he is everywhere this year. With him performing at such
a high level at every race, 21 points is not a small amount
so we have to be at the maximum.
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The Fiat Yamaha Team arrives in Germany on a high
following a morale-boosting victory for Rossi in
Holland, where the Italian closed the gap on current
series leader Casey Stoner to 21 points. |
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The MotoGP World Championship crosses its season
equator next weekend as round ten of eighteen sees
the Fiat Yamaha Team land in Germany for the first
of another gruelling double-header. |
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"We've got work to do still; we're not perfect yet,
especially in the wet, but we're going in the right way and
we'll keep pushing. We still have half the season left!
Sachsenring is quite a different track, very tight and
twisty, but for the past two years our bike has worked very
well there and we've been able to win."
Colin Edwards
Colin Edwards has not enjoyed a
particularly fruitful relationship with the Sachsenring
circuit, starting in his MotoGP debut year of 2003 when he
was involved in a spectacular fireball crash from which he
was lucky to escape without injury. With a best result there
of fifth place in 2004, the Texan is keen to set the record
straight and register a top result in preparation for his
home race at Laguna Seca.
"I've
never gone great at Sachsenring and it's definitely not one
of my favourite tracks on the calendar, but our bike's a lot
different to last year so I'm actually looking forward to
the race," says Edwards.
"I like racing at the front and that's where I intend to be.
Assen was disappointing because I expected more and I had
the pace, but now we just need to take that to Germany and
put things right. I found a front-running pace in Assen and
now we are expecting things to work in Germany too. The
track has two different parts - one where it's very
difficult to overtake and another which requires a massive
physical effort because it works the left-hand side of your
body really hard. The tyres are under a lot of strain and
it's vital to make the right choice so they don't overheat
on the left-side. Generally I get along okay with the layout
and there are always a lot of fans so it should be a good
weekend."
Davide Brivio - Team Director
Fiat Yamaha Team Director Davide Brivio
says his staff were buoyed by Rossi's victory at Assen - not
only because of the spine-tingling nature of his ride but
also the technical progress made behind the scenes with
Yamaha's technical partners. Rossi has now won each of the
last two races held in dry conditions and clearly
demonstrated the improvements being made with the speed of
the YZR-M1 and the competitiveness of Michelin's slick
tyres.
"The win
at Assen was very good for our confidence levels and has
given us extra motivation to take into the second half of
the championship," says Brivio.
"It was a special performance
from Valentino but above all it was gratifying for the whole
team to see the progress we have made together with Michelin
to get our bike working at its optimum level in dry
conditions because this is something we have worked
extremely hard towards over the past few weeks.
"The
characteristics of the circuit seemed to suit the bike but
we are confident we can keep this level of performance going
now at Sachsenring and Laguna Seca as we aim to recover as
many points as possible. Colin had an excellent race at
Donington but struggled to repeat that at Assen so hopefully
he too can benefit from these improvements now. We will
certainly be doing our best to help him get a good result
and get him ready for his home race just seven days later!"
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