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Valentino Rossi took the runner-up spot in
the German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring
yesterday and moved back to the top of the
championship, after Dani Pedrosa crashed out
of the lead on lap six. |
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Valentino Rossi took the runner-up spot in the German
Grand Prix at the Sachsenring yesterday and moved back
to the top of the MotoGP World Championship, after Dani
Pedrosa crashed out of the lead on lap six. Rossi’s Fiat
Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo was another victim of the
first fully wet race of the season, sliding out of the
race on the third lap.
Sunday morning’s practice was run on a damp track but
the weather worsened through the middle part of the day
and the MotoGP race began in heavy rain. Rossi, starting
from seventh on the grid, was caught up in the first lap
confusion and lost some time but then made up two places
on the second lap, before being elevated to fourth when
Pedrosa went down. In the next few laps the Italian
passed first fellow Yamaha rider Colin Edwards and then
Andrea Dovizioso, which left him in second behind Casey
Stoner. Rossi did his best to close the gap to the
Australian but with the pair clocking similar lap times
he was unable to make any headway into a deficit of more
than three seconds, settling for second place and 20
points. Chris Vermeulen loomed behind him at mid-race
distance but Rossi’s M1 and his Bridgestone tyres were
working well in the wet and he was able to step up the
pace somewhat, eventually crossed the line 3.708 seconds
behind Stoner and more than 14 ahead of third-placed
Vermeulen.
Yesterday's result sees Rossi back at the top of the
standings, 16 points clear of Pedrosa and 20 ahead of
Stoner, whilst Lorenzo holds on to fourth despite taking
no points. The MotoGP paddock now packs up and makes the
transatlantic trip to California for the US Grand Prix
at Laguna Seca in a week’s time.
Valentino Rossi
“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.”
Davide Brivio (Team Manager)
“This was a very positive race for us because this result
takes us back to the top of the championship standings. I
hope that Pedrosa’s condition is not too serious and that he
will be back at Laguna to fight as he has been doing so far.
Today we have seen that we have a good set-up for the wet
conditions and this is good news for us, as this was the
very first full wet race since the beginning of the
championship. Valentino pushed hard till the end of the race
and the second place today was the maximum we could do,
starting from the third row. Now we go to Laguna Seca, where
we will launch another attack!”
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