2006 MotoGP - GERMAN GP

R10, Jul 16, 2006, Germany (Sachsenring)

• PEDROSA'S 4TH POLE IN MOTOGP: “I’m happy to get on pole position but the most important thing really was to get on the front row because the track is very tight at the beginning and there are only two or three passing points here. I’m fine after the crash this morning, but the bike was not so lucky. The mechanics worked very hard through lunch to have the bike ready for qualifying
• Sete Gibernau back from injury break "I am really looking forward to returning to action! The shoulder is recovering well and I have been working to get fit as fast as possible. It is a pity that I've lost three races but now I just want to ride my Desmosedici again"
• 2005 RESULT: 1 ROSSI | 2 GIBERNAU | 3 HAYDEN

RACE   (TOP OF PAGE)

RACE RESULT, JULY 16, 2006
RACE
1. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha 2. Marco Melandri (ITA) Honda +0.145 3. Nicky Hayden (USA) Honda +0.266 4. Dani Pedrosa (ESP) Honda +0.307 5. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati +8.7+ 6. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Kawasaki + 7. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Suzuki + 8. Sete Gibernau (ESP) Ducati 9. Carlos Checa (ESP) Yamaha 10. John Hopkins (USA) Suzuki	STONER DID NOT RACE: he has concussion and hand injury after crashing during warm up.

RACE	RACE
Yuki Takahashi Alex de Angelis Jorge Lorenzo	Mattia Pasini Alvaro Bautista Lukas Pesek

DORNA RACE REPORT  (TOP OF PAGE)

• 
  Valentino Rossi took a spectacular victory in today’s betandwin.com Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland, moving up to second in the overall classification in front of 93,748 motorbike racing aficionados. The Italian led a pack of four of which any rider was in with a chance for the win up to the final corner, the most prominent of whom was compatriot Marco Melandri.
• Fortuna Honda’s Italian rider, racing with a fractured collarbone, was just unable to hold out on the final lap having cheekily dived through just a lap before. As the young pretender made a daring manoeuvre to pass Rossi on the fastest corner on the circuit, the reigning World Champion bravely held firm and subsequently closed the door on the final two bends to close out a thrilling win.
• Rossi had started the race from down in tenth spot on the grid after disappointing in practice, and it was left to the Repsol Honda duo Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa to make the early pace. They fought amongst themselves and the front two for the entire race, taking turns in leading. With fourth-placed Pedrosa finishing just over three hundredths of a second behind Rossi, it was an indication of just how close the finish really was.
• Loris Capirossi headed a trailing twosome of himself and Shinya Nakano, whilst Chris Vermeulen and Sete Gibernau completed a pack of Bridgestone riders. Carlos Checa and John Hopkins rounded off the top ten.
• There was heartbreak for Makoto Tamada on lap thirteen, as the Konica Minolta rider was caught up in a crash with Kenny Roberts whilst on flying form, challenging for the top positions in a fearless display. Tamada became entangled in Roberts’ bike, but was able to escape without serious injury.
• Rossi celebrated in his own inimitable style, donning an Italian football shirt adorned with the name of controversial star Marco Materazzi. He now trails Hayden in the championship by just 26 points, heading into the American’s home race at Laguna Seca.
• Casey Stoner was forced to miss the race having suffered a crash during the morning warm-up. LCR Honda’s Australian rider was diagnosed with a concussion and bruising of the hands.
• 1st, Valentino Rossi (Yamaha : "It was an unbelievable race for me and the team, because in practice we were always struggling. I need to say sorry to my M1, because yesterday was the first time that I doubted if I could win. Big thanks to Jeremy and all the mechanics, they changed some things this morning and again this afternoon. Today the M1 flew and Michelin helped so much. It was a great start, but escaping from the others was impossible. I had another great battle with Marco, and in the end I was able to cross the line in front. Also, I have to mention this; Italy are football World Champions so it is a good sign."
• 2nd, Marco Melandri (Honda): "Another fight with Valentino, it was for second at Donington and for the win here. Valentino was so fast, and my rhythm was not too good, although following people it wasn’t as bad. I wanted to pass Valentino but the moment was wrong and he was too strong. On the last two corners he closed the door on me, so I tried on the outside. If I fight like that every Sunday then I’m sure that I can win again this season."
• 3rd, Nicky Hayden (Honda): "Once I’d got past Dani then I thought that I might have a chance. I didn’t want to overtake just one of Valentino and Marco, make a mistake and then let Dani get me again. I thought that at the bottom of the hill Marco might open the door for me, but he moved earlier than I thought and I wasn’t able to capitalise. I’m not completely satisfied, because normally it’s a good track for me. Today I had a good shot but couldn’t get it done, although I enjoyed the battle and the team did a great job."
• 
  Yuki Takahashi took his second 250cc victory of 2006 after a sensational final corner move. The Japanese rider hadn’t led the field at any point up until the ascending turn, and had caught up with de Angelis on a sensational last lap. The win represents Honda’s 200th victory in the quarter litre category.
• The result was cruel to de Angelis, who had led the race since lap nine, at one point looking to be out of the reaches of the trailing pack. The San Marino native tried to regain the lead on the line, but with his front wheel lifting was unable to take the top spot.
• Jorge Lorenzo took third in the race, which puts him back on top of the 250cc World Championship. The Spaniard had a bad start from pole, but by lap two had regained the lead before battling first with de Angelis, then with Takahashi, Andrea Dovizioso and team-mate Hector Barbera. Dovizioso came in fourth, ahead of Barbera, Roberto Locatelli, Anthony West, Aoyama brothers Hiroshi and Shuhei, and Sylvain Guintoli.
• 
  Mattia Pasini took a tight victory over team-mate and championship leader Alvaro Bautista at the Sachsenring Circuit in the 125cc Grand Prix, passing the chequered flag just 0.010s ahead of his Spanish counterpart.

KAWASAKI RACE REPORT  (TOP OF PAGE)

• Kawasaki's Shinya Nakano took a hard fought sixth place in today's German Grand Prix at Sachsenring, to move up to eighth place in the World Championship standings.
• But while Nakano celebrated achieving his aim of a top six finish today, his Kawasaki teammate, Randy de Puniet, was left disappointed after a mechanical problem forced him to retire his Ninja ZX-RR from the 30-lap race just short of the halfway point.
• Nakano got a good start from fourth place on the grid, but the Kawasaki pilot was forced wide at the first corner and found himself pushed back to ninth place as a large group of riders managed to squeeze through on the inside of the turn.
• The 28-year-old Japanese rider quickly got the better of John Hopkins to move up to eighth place, from where he was able to see the seven-way battle for the lead being played out in front of him.
• Nakano was pushing hard to catch the leading group when he was elevated to sixth position on lap eleven, after Kenny Roberts crashed out of the battle for the lead at the last turn, taking the luckless Makoto Tamada into the gravel trap with him.
• During the closing stages of the race Nakano managed to close the gap to Loris Capirossi to just three tenths-of-a-second, but was unable to pass the Italian for fifth place on the final lap, and was forced to settle for sixth, and ten vital championship points, at the line.
• Starting from the fourth row of the grid, Randy de Puniet knew he was facing a tough challenge in today's race, but the 25-year-old Frenchman made the job even harder with a less than perfect start that left him down in 15th position at the end of the opening lap.
• The Kawasaki rider fought his way through into 11th place with some aggressive overtaking manoeuvres, and was chasing down Sete Gibernau for tenth when a mechanical problem with his Ninja ZX-RR left him with no other option but to retire from the race.
• Shinya Nakano: 6th "I was on the outside going into the first turn, and I could see everyone pushing up the inside, so I decided to stay wide to avoid any chance of a first corner crash. I tried to follow the leading riders through the turn, but I couldn't get back inside and I lost positions. At the start of the race I was having some problems carrying speed through the right-hand corners, which lost me time and meant I wasn't able to match the pace of the leading group. By the middle of the race I could still see the battle for the lead, but they were too far in front for me to close the gap, despite me setting my fastest lap while chasing them. At the end I thought I would be able to catch Loris for fifth place, but by the time I was close enough to think about a pass the race was over. After the problems we had with set-up during free practice I'm pretty happy with today's result, and it's good to be back in the top ten of the championship standings."
• Randy de Puniet: DNF
  "I lost some places at the start, but a bit of aggressive overtaking during the opening laps put me just behind Sete Gibernau and the battle for seventh place. I felt comfortable on the bike and I was starting to close the gap on the group in front of me, but then the bike just stopped and I had to retire. It's disappointing because I know a top ten finish was a possibility, but on a more positive note, I gained a lot of confidence in the bike today and this will stand me in good stead next week at Laguna Seca. Again, we need to put this behind us now and focus on the next race, which is just seven days away."
• Harald Eckl: Team Principal
  "We came to Sachsenring expecting better than sixth place in the race, and with conditions better suited to our bike today, and Shinya starting from fourth place on the grid, there was no reason for us to lower our expectations ahead of the race. But then both riders got a bad start, and places lost at the start are difficult to make up at Sachsenring, because there are not so many places to pass at this track. I think this is the main reason why we didn't meet our expectations today."

QUALIFYING   (TOP OF PAGE)

GRID, JULY 15, 2006
DANI Pedrosa, Honda RC211V, 1m 21.815 KENNY Roberts JR., Honda RC211V NICKY Hayden , Honda RC211V Nakano Capirossi Melandri Gibernau Stoner Hopkins Tamada	11 Rossi 12 Checa 13 De Puniet 14 Vermeulen 15 Edwards 16 Elias 17 Hofmann 18 Ellison

Jorge Lorenzo Aprilia 1:25.073 Yuki Takahashi Hector Barbera Roberto Locatelli Alex De Angeles	Pesek Bautitsta Pasini Kallio Terol

HONDA QUALIFYING REPORT      (TOP OF PAGE)

• Honda powered riders dominated this MotoGP qualifying session taking all three front row positions for tomorrow’s 30-lap race of this 3.671km track.
• In searing heat, with a track temperature at 40 degrees Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC211V) grabbed pole, with Kenny Roberts (Roberts KR211V) second fastest and Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC211V) completing the font row.
• It was clear this would be a Honda show from the free training session this morning when Hayden, Pedrosa and Casey Stoner (LCR Honda RC211V) were fastest during that hour, with five Honda men in the top five places. This final hour of timed qualifying would merely confirm the superiority of the RC211V and its riders here in Germany.
• This is now Dani’s fourth pole of the season making him the best qualifier in the premier class so far , and all in his rookie year. That he has also produced two wins from those poles bodes well for the race. But he’s fallen here this weekend in his efforts to tame this bumpy track.
• Marco Melandri (Fortuna Honda RC211V) qualified sixth fastest, Stoner will start from eighth on the grid, with Makoto Tamada (Konica Minolta Honda
  RC211V) tenth fastest and the injured Toni Elias (Fortuna Honda RC211V) managing the 16th best time.
• Shinya Nakano (Kawasaki) was the fastest man on track during the opening minutes before Loris Capirossi (Ducati) levered the Japanese off pole with a time of 1m 23.246 seconds. Then at the halfway point Nakano pulled out a time of 1m 22.772s to snatch pole back from the Italian.
• Elias, riding for the first time since breaking a shoulder in Holland, was unlucky today. He was forced to ride his number two bike after problems with his first choice machine and those two troubles , lack of fitness and no number one bike for qualifiers , hampered his progress here.
• With 20 minutes of the session remaining, Melandri had put himself on the front row, before Sete Gibernau (Ducati), another rider still suffering the effects of a crash with a broken collarbone, put his machine on the front row as second fastest man.
• Riders are opting to use qualifying rubber earlier in these timed sessions, either to make best use of a relatively traffic-free track, or to put a marker lap time down, in case track conditions deteriorate in any way towards the end of the hour. The fluctuations today suggest tyre choice for Sunday will be doubly critical.
• Stoner was a rider who went early with a qualifying tyre taking pole with a 1m 22.588s lap before Pedrosa relieved him of that number one slot with a 1m 22.521 tour with a full 14 minutes remaining. Nakano then topped that with 1m 22.273s time.
• As the final 10 minutes approached the order was Nakano, Pedrosa, Gibernau on the front row, then Melandri, Stoner and Hayden making up row two. As Hayden then moved up to third, less than 0.2 seconds covered the top five riders. This was always going to be close.
• But Dani had the measure of this sinuous track. He showed it in the final five minutes with a blisteringly quick lap of 1m 21.815s to take pole. It looked highly likely then that this would be a Repsol Honda benefit with Nicky second on the grid. But that was to reckon without Roberts.
• The 2000 premier class World Champion has shown this season just what a talent the front of the grid has been missing. Now with Honda power, he has shone again and when he fired his 211V-engined KR machine to a 1m 21.907s lap to claim second fastest time and push Capirossi onto row three, it was no longer a surprise, after his podium in Catalunya.
• Reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) could only manage the 11th fastest time, more than a second shy of Dani’s pole mark.
• Dani said, “I’m happy to get on pole position but the most important thing really was to get on the front row because the track is very tight at the beginning and there are only two or three passing points here. I’m fine after the crash this morning, but the bike was not so lucky. The mechanics worked very hard through lunch to have the bike ready for qualifying and first of all this afternoon I just tried to run-in the bike and check everything. Then I pushed harder and my lap time was good.”
• “When a lap looks slow and easy,” said Kenny. “It’s usually fast. The bike is coming along. We have had no test to work on improving it, just in trying a few different settings, mainly riding position and to try and get the bike to work better on qualifying tyres. The bike felt well balanced. I could have tried to get more out of it if I had pushed harder but I’m more than happy and the front row is a definite bonus. I have to get a good start and try to stay with the top Honda guys.”
• Nicky said, “I’m happy to be on the front row and this is the best I’ve qualified for a while, so it’s been positive. We’ve been close out of the gate and we haven’t had to make a lot of big changes to the set-up, we’ve just been sweetening it up, and I think we’ve got a pretty strong package this weekend. It’s been one of the better weekends so far this year. We’ll try and find a little extra pace in the warm-up and then I’m looking forward to a dogfight tomorrow in the race.”
• Melandri, sixth fastest, said, “I’m very satisfied. I got into a good rhythm and I’m confident for the race. I’m happy being on the second row because the front two rows were the objective here. The bike is working well and Honda has a good base setting for us here. My physical condition has improved a lot and so many left turns here are good for my right shoulder.”
• Stoner, who qualified eighth fastest, said, “I’m using the update chassis and it feels really good. The team had to change most of the settings from the standard RCV, but the front-end feels really positive and on my first qualifying run it was very good. Then we changed to a different rear tyre and it started to push the front on the second run. The race will be very difficult from row two as there aren’t many places to overtake.”
• Tamada said, “We’re just a little better today than yesterday. We’ve been trying some things on the suspension, working with different springs. Now my capacity to control front-end slides has improved and I am getting more confident with the bike. Tomorrow in the warm-up we’ll try some different rear tyres because we have to be ready for different track temperatures.
  The track was very hot today.”
• Elias said, I’m very tired and suffering a lot now. I’m really starting to feel the effect of these four sessions, but it’s important for me to be back on the track. My target for tomorrow is just to finish the race.”
• In the 250cc class Jorge Lorenzo (Aprilia) scored his seventh pole of the season here, Yuki Takahashi (Humangest Racing Honda RS250RW) qualified second fastest, just 0.078 seconds shy of Lorenzo’s time. Hector Barbera and Roberto Locatelli (both Aprilia) qualified third and fourth fastest.
• Andrea Dovizioso (Humangest Racing Honda RS250RW), the current overall points leader could do no better than eighth fastest, just less than half a second away from the pole time.
  Shuhei Aoyama (Repsol Honda RS250RW) qualified tenth fastest while his team-mate Martin Cardenas (Repsol Honda RS250RW) managed the 16th fastest time.
• Takahashi said, “I’m surprised about today’s last lap. The final part of the qualifying session has been difficult, because I was in the middle of a group of riders and I couldn’t push as I would have liked. This morning we found a good set-up, but it will be important to make a good start because it’s difficult to overtake here.”
• Dovi said, “I’m not happy about my position on tomorrow’s grid, but we made a step forward compared to yesterday. My pace is good, and more or less at the same level as my rivals so this makes me think positively. I don’t like this track but now I feel more confident compared to yesterday and there aren’t so many riders faster than me.”
• Lukas Pesek (Derbi) 125cc secured his second pole position of the season so far with a lap of 1m 27.064 seconds. The Czech rider will line up with series points leader Alvaro Bautista (Aprilia) alongside him as second fastest qualifier, Mattia Pasini (Aprilia) third, and Mika Kallio (KTM) completing the front row.
• Fabrizio Lai (Seedorf Racing Honda RS125R) is the best Honda qualifier here in sixth place on row two, while Gabor Talmacsi (Humangest Honda RS125R) managed the seventh fastest time affording the Hungarian a start from the second row also. Both, however, are more than 0.8 seconds off the pole time.
• The session was stopped in the final seconds when a three-bike crash at the bottom of the steeply downhill penultimate turn left debris on track and stricken riders in the run-off area. This left reigning World Champion Thomas Luthi (Elit Grand Prix Honda RS125R) unable to improve on a time of 1m 28.215 seconds , only good enough for 13th place on the grid.
• Bradley Smith (Repsol Honda RS125R), who scored his first points at Donington Park two weeks ago, qualified 14th fastest, only 0.077 seconds shy of Luthi’s time. Sandro Cortese (Elit Grand Prix Honda RS125R) qualified 11th fastest and will start from row three in tomorrow’s 27-lap race.
• Lai said, “The bike is OK and I like the track. I made the lap time without a slipstream but it’s not enough. I’m sixth and eight tenth of a second from the poleman , a lot on this track. For the race it’s important to have a good and constant pace. I hope tomorrow won’t be too hot, we are the last to race and Honda engine suffers more than the Aprilia and KTM in the heat.
  And tyre choice will be very important.”
• Talmacsi said, “This is a tough track and it’s not easy to find the best chassis settings. We’ve made some steps forward compared to yesterday, but still I am slow turning-in and the bike feels heavy and slippery. I struggled in the first corner, while in some points, the track is bumpy and this complicates the situation. Anyway, I’m happy and if we can make a further improvement during tomorrow’s warm up, I think I can do a good race.”
• Cortese said, “I am very happy now. We had some front-end chatter problems early in the qualifying session, but we changed the suspension settings and tyres and it’s better. In fact even with the chatter I was really fast from the beginning. The engine is really good and I feel I will have a good race , if I get a good start.”
• Luthi said, “Not good , but a little better than yesterday. I was following Bautista on my fast lap but going into a slow corner, I started to get front wheel chatter, and he was away. We have to fix this tonight because it’ll be very difficult to race with this problem. The engine is fine , all we had to do was to make small changes to the gearbox. We’ll see what we’re able to do tomorrow.”
• Honda GP rider quotes: German GP Sachsenring. Final qualifying July 15, 2006.
• MotoGP:
• Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 1st. "I'm happy to get on pole position but the most important thing really was to get on the front row because the track is very tight at the beginning and there are only two or three passing points here. I'm fine after the crash this morning, but the bike was not so lucky. The mechanics worked very hard through lunch to have the bike ready for qualifying and first of all this afternoon I just tried to run-in the bike and check everything. Then I pushed harder and my lap time was good, so overall I'm pleased with how it went today. Of course the most important thing is to use the front row position to get a good start tomorrow and see how the race goes."
• Kenny Roberts Jnr, KR Honda: 2nd. “When a laps looks slow and easy its usually fast - the bike is coming along. We have had no test to work on improving it just trying a few different settings, mainly riding position and to get the bike to work better on qualifying tyres. The bike felt well balanced. I could have tried to get more out of it if I had pushed harder but I’m more than happy and the front row is a definite bonus. I have to get a good start and try to stay with the top Honda guys.”
• Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda: 3rd. "I'm happy to be on the front row and this is the best I've qualified for a while, so it's been positive. We've been close out of the gate and we haven't had to make a lot of big changes to the set-up, we've just been sweetening it up, and I think we've got a pretty strong package this weekend. It's been one of the better weekends so far this year. I would have liked to get down into the 1m 21s today and I thought it was possible, but getting on the front row of the grid is really important here and I'll be planning to get a good start tomorrow. We'll try and find a little extra pace in the warm-up and then I'm looking forward to a dogfight tomorrow in the race."
• Marco Melandri, Fortuna Honda: 6th. “I’m very satisfied. I got into a good rhythm and I’m confident for the race. I’m happy being on the second row because the front two rows were the objective here. The bike is working well and Honda has a good base setting for us here. My physical condition has improved a lot and so many left turns here are good for my right shoulder.”
• Casey Stoner, LCR Honda: 8th. “Today I just concentrated on the updated chassis and I now have a much better feeling --it is a positive step forward considering it is only my second day on this bike. The team had to change most of the settings from the standard RCV and we are slowly moving forward , especially with a more positive feeling from the front-end. My first qualifying run was really good and I then switched to a different rear tyre, but it pushed the front on the second run. The race could be difficult from the third row, there are not many places to overtake. I’ll need good start, the first corner is a little scary- it’s very tight.”
• Makoto Tamada, Konica Minolta Honda: 10th. “We are just a little better today than yesterday. We have been trying some things on the suspension basically working with different springs. Now my capacity to control front end slides has improved and I am getting more confident with the bike.
  Tomorrow in the warm up we will try some different rear tyres because we have to be ready for different track temperatures, the track was very hot today.”
• Toni Elias, Fortuna Honda: 16th. “I’m very tired and suffering a lot now.
  I’m really starting to feel the effect of these four sessions, but it’s important for me to be back on the track. My target for tomorrow is just to finish the race."
• 250cc:
• Yuki Takahashi, Humangest Honda:2nd. “I’m surprise about today’s last lap.
  The final part of the qualifying session has been difficult, because I was in the middle of a group of riders and I couldn’t push as I would have liked. Only at the last lap I was able to build a small gap and go much faster. It’s a shame as in the last turn I made a small mistake! This morning we found a good set-up, but in the afternoon we made some modifications loosing a bit our way. Then, we went back at this morning solution and the feeling with the bike was better again. Here it will be important to make a good start because it’s difficult to overtake”.
• Andrea Dovizioso, Humangest Honda: 8th “I’m not too much satisfied about my position in tomorrow’s starting grid, but we have made a step forward compared to yesterday. My pace is good, though, more or less at the same level as my rivals and this make me think positive for the race. Some riders improved their lap times at the end by following other riders, actually I was penalized by this situation. I don’t like this track but now I feel more confident compared to yesterday and there aren’t so many riders faster than me”.
• Shuhei Aoyama, Repsol Honda: 10th. "I'm very disappointed because I didn't expect a result like this, although the race is fortunately tomorrow.
  Things went well yesterday, but this morning we took the wrong way as regards the bike's settings so we had to go back. Then I just haven't been able to make a fast enough lap at the end of the second qualifying practice, and that set me back in the grid. We have, however, a good race pace, so we'll have to be really watchful at the start."
• Martin Cardenas, Repsol Honda: 16th. "The collarbone is doing great. I haven't felt any pain during the weekend; the practice however has been a little bit disappointing. I felt quite good in the morning but in the afternoon I crashed at the beginning and lost some confidence. I was finally able to improve my time a bit, but not as much as I expected. We were testing a harder tyre for the front and entering a corner the steering just got closed so I crashed. I hope to be able to make a good start tomorrow to get the front group and try to stay there."
• Arturo Tizon, Wurth Honda BQR: 17th. “I had a good feeling with the bike, my time is good and my grid position. But now I have a front tyre problem.
  I had been using the standard Dunlop front and it worked really good but they cannot supply me with one for the race. They gave me a tyre with the same compound but harder construction but I didn’t find a good feeling with that one. We tried another type but it was not much better. If I can find a standard front tyre from another team I will be happy, if not I might struggle to find a good rhythm in the race. A pity because everything else is working really good for me.”
• Aleix Espargaro, Wurth Honda BQR: 19th. “A bad day for me today. In the morning I tried several different tyres and concentrated on to of them in the qualifying session but both were sliding badly. My lap by lap times are not too bad, my best at 1’27.1s and many at 1’27.2s. I have no other problems. The engine is fast but here the engine is not as important as the chassis set up. At this track you have to have a good feeling with the chassis to be confident. I the warm up I will try another type of tyre with some set up changes and se where we are.”
• Fabrizio Perren, Stop and Go Racing: 20th. “After my crash yesterday I found the track to be a little complicated, it is a very technical circuit and very bumpy. It’s my first time here so the last thing I needed was a crash while I was trying to learn where I’m going. Still the engine is good and we are close on set up. We have to check the telemetry to se where we can improve. I hope I get a good start because the first part of the circuit is tight and difficult to pass riders. If I find my rhythm quickly I will have a good race.”
• Arnaud Vincent, Molenaar Honda: 24th. “My engine is not strong enough, even on this short track because thee are some stiff uphill sections. Then I crashed when the front end turned in on me. I'm OK but I am not happy with my grid position."

YAMAHA QUALIFYING REPORT      (TOP OF PAGE)

• Camel Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards both face an uphill battle in tomorrow's German Grand Prix after struggling to come to terms with the undulating demands of the Sachsenring circuit in the final free practice and qualifying session today. Neither rider was able to find an adequate setting for the YZR-M1 in yesterday's opening sessions and despite making progress today they did not take the necessary steps forward required to make a challenge for the front row of the grid, which is headed by Dani Pedrosa (Honda) for the second successive race.
• As the action got underway below clear blue skies and pleasant summer temperatures of 22ºC, Rossi's main difficulty was balancing the intense force exerted on the front end of the bike at this circuit, a problem exacerbated by the extra rear grip offered by the softer qualifying tyres. Whilst the Italian is hopeful of working on a solution with his team overnight, Edwards is less optimistic having been unable to exactly pinpoint the root of his problems and leaving only tomorrow's 20-minute warm-up to clarify an adequate set-up and tyre choice for the race.
• Rossi will aim to make as much progress as possible early in the race as he starts from the fourth row in eleventh spot whilst Edwards has an even bigger challenge ahead as he looks to remount from a row further back in fifteenth.
• Valentino Rossi (11th - 1'22.868; 32 laps) "The race setting is not so bad but things were very different on the qualifying tyre. We are getting too much weight onto the front end of the bike and when the rear qualifying tyre grips so much this pushes the front even harder and I almost crashed a couple of times. My hand is still a bit sore but to be honest when I am riding I don't even think about it and this is not what is troubling us today. It looks like tomorrow will be tough because Dani Pedrosa has a very fast pace but I am starting from a long way back. Unfortunately I can't say that we are down in eleventh because I was unlucky; today we deserve to be in eleventh and we have a lot of work to do. It's difficult to overtake at this track and you need a good setting to make up positions in the race. At the moment our bike is not quite ready and this situation is not limited to today - it seems we have struggled in practice all year. Once again I need another great job from my mechanics tonight so that I can try and chase the lead group tomorrow."
• Colin Edwards (15th - 1'23.087; 29 laps) "I'm feeling disappointed and frustrated tonight because we've tried everything - changed the steering head column, the rear links, the swingarm links - but not got anywhere. The bike is a little better than yesterday but it is still not fast enough and when I'm following other guys around it seems as though they are running at a different track. Honestly, I think the team has worked harder here than at any other circuit this year but it's just not happening for us and we need a miracle now. The bike is a bit of a handful at the moment and the worrying thing is that I don't know exactly where we can find the improvement in time for tomorrow's race. Anyway, we'll keep working and see if we can come up with something in the morning."
• Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director "Again it will be a difficult start to the race for us, with Valentino and Colin on the fourth and fifth rows. We are struggling with the qualifying tyre, even though Valentino's race pace is not so bad - very similar to Pedrosa and Hayden. The problem for him now is his position on the grid because it is a big disadvantage at such a tight circuit like this. We will do our best to make the right changes for him in the morning and hopefully we can come up with something for Colin too. We need a big effort from the whole team over the next 24 hours and I'm sure our riders will do their bit to perform."
• Confidence inspiring qualifying session for Tech 3 Yamaha Team
• Under the blazing German sunshine the solitary qualifying session for the MotoGP class was a confidence inspiring occasion for the Tech 3 Yamaha Team as lead rider, Carlos Checa qualified in 12th fastest position, just 1.1 seconds off pole position taken by Dani Pedrosa (Honda). In the final moments of the session, Carlos was denied the rare experience of being the leading Yamaha rider as world champion, Valentino Rossi relegated the experienced Spaniard one place on the grid by just 0.096 second. Teammate, James Ellison improved his time to move up the grid slightly but is nonetheless, disappointed that he ran out of time to improve his 18th place on the grid.
• Carlos Checa (12th, 1'22.964, 33 laps)
  "Of course for us personally this is good as we are quite close to Valentino and at this moment he is the best rider even if here his position is not his usual. This weekend we have worked quite well heading in the right direction and making advances with the Dunlop race tyres but we still have some limitations especially with the qualifying tyres. We are ready for tomorrow with a pretty good setup and hopefully we can build on what we have been doing in the recent races. We cannot be perfectly satisfied with this situation because it is clear that all riders on Yamaha are struggling around here. "Anyway for the race I am more confident than I am with qualifying. We have a good tyre and I think the setting we have chosen for the race we will have a good pace but hopefully even though warmup is early tomorrow there will be enough heat in the track to do some more final testing to make sure we have made the right decisions. I must get a good start as if we are too far back in the first corner with how close the lap times are it will be very difficult to move up many positions as it is also very hard to overtake around here.
• James Ellison (18th 1'24.464, 28 laps)
  "I'm not happy as although I dropped my times, yesterday's sessions were a loss. With the setup we had on Friday you kind of lose your confidence because we had so many problems it takes time to build up confidence again. If you arrive at a circuit and the bike works it's awesome because you can build on it all weekend but when you start bad like it's very difficult to get your head up to speed again. We've been chipping away and slowly building to the times we wanted to get but we really wanted to get into the 23 second bracket. We made a couple of mistakes with the last qualifier so I'm very disappointed with that to be honest. We had another tyre lined up but we just ran out of time. We might've gone quicker, we might've gone slower - who knows - it would've just been nice to try it. I'm not happy at all as I have only qualified five-tenths faster than I did last year and I'm on a bike way more capable than what I had. That's the result, so I have to live with it and try and get a good start to get away with them and hopefully move up a few places."
• Herve Poncharal - Tech3 Yamaha Team Director "It was another positive day for us as in the morning and afternoon Carlos was right up there with everybody else. For the majority of both sessions Carlos was the first Yamaha and it was only in the last seconds that Valentino got him but we are on the same row and in front of Colin Edwards. This makes us very happy - not to see Valentino and Colin so far back - but shows us the improvements that keep continuing with the Dunlop tyres. We are confident we can do a good first part of the race but because of the rain on Friday morning and all the setting changes we had to make, we didn't manage to do a full race distance in hot conditions as yesterday was a lot cooler on track. Tomorrow's forecast is a lot hotter than today, so we are a little bit concerned about the last 10 laps of the race because 30 laps around here on a high temperature track is very demanding on tyres - this is our main worry to see how those 10 laps unfold but I guess we have to wait and see. We have improved on our qualifying tyres but unfortunately the last run of Carlos for some reason we couldn't improve. If we had dropped another tenth of a second we could be a row closer because the lap times are so close but our main concern is durability and race distance more than grid position. It was also quite a good improvement from James. Yesterday he was nowhere and today he is running low to mid 1'24 second laps, which for MotoGP is a fairly decent lap time. Let's hope he can run at that pace for the entire race because there are guys in front of him that he can stay with and hopefully pass during the race."

YAMAHA FRIDAY REPORT   (TOP OF PAGE)

• The Camel Yamaha Team began their preparations for the German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring today with riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards working hard to adjust their YZR-M1 machines to the tortuous demands of the MotoGP World Championship's shortest and slowest circuit. The first day of free practice was held in cloudy yet warm conditions of around 20ºC, with the threat of storms hanging ominously over the circuit throughout the day but thankfully not progressing beyond a couple of spells of light rainfall as the riders squeezed every available minute out of the two hour-long sessions.
• Both Rossi and Edwards admitted running into difficulties as they adjusted the base setting of the bike, which so far hasn't proven as well suited to this circuit as it has to faster tracks such as Donington, Assen, Mugello and Catalunya in recent weeks. The Italian ran sixth fastest in the morning session, with the American ninth, but they were both unable to match the progress made by their rivals in the afternoon and they slid marginally down the time sheets at the end of the day - Rossi ending up seventh with Edwards in eleventh. Both riders face a crucial day of set-up work tomorrow as they prepare for the tenth round of the season on Sunday.
• Valentino Rossi (7th - 1'23.871; 43 laps) "We knew before we came here that this was not one of my favourite circuits and that it was always going to be a big effort from the first day. Unfortunately that is proving to be the case and I have not got comfortable with the bike or the track today. We are trying a whole 'sack' of things to make the bike better but we keep running into problems and haven't found the best way to work yet. Luckily we still have two hours tomorrow to do this so we hope the weather stays dry because we need all that track time to work on the bike. Anyway I am still confident because Jerry and the engineers have shown in the past few races when I have been injured that they have a great ability to set the bike up using a minimal amount of data. Tomorrow we will have to stay concentrated and see what we can do. It already looks like it will be a tough battle on Sunday but the tough ones are always the most fun!"
• Colin Edwards (11th - 1'24.100; 33 laps) "We're struggling. The bike feels a bit rough in a few sections and we need to make some drastic changes tomorrow to get it working how we want. The bike and I are not getting along with the circuit at the moment and I'm losing around half a second in the second section alone, which is clearly not good enough. We have to work on that and generally improve the speed through the corner in all the other sections - it's not carrying enough pace and no matter what I tried it just wasn't happening today. We know we've still got a lot of work to do but that's what we're here for and I'm looking forward to tomorrow."
• Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director "Clearly we still have plenty of work to do tomorrow because we are not where we want to be on the first day. We need to improve the pace of both riders, who are struggling with different kinds of problems. As always they are working together for the good of the team and the engineers will use their feedback to try and come up with some better settings tomorrow. This is a very particular track because it is so tight and twisty, unlike any other circuit in the world, so we have to look for something particular with the setting. That is not as easy as it sounds but we will keep going!"
• Checa within reach for Tech 3 Yamaha Racing Team in Germany
• Although at least half of the opening practice session for Sunday's German Grand Prix was lost due to the now familiar inclement conditions, Carlos Checa on the Tech 3 Yamaha was less than a second off pole position at the end of the day's proceedings to be well within striking distance to score his best grid position of the year. A further encouraging sign for Checa after the afternoon's second free practice session was the inspiration that he is less than two-hundredths of a second behind fellow Yamaha rider, Colin Edwards. This has set the scene for an interesting duel in the solitary qualifying shootout tomorrow. The same cannot be said for Carlos's team mate, James Ellison as he struggled with tyre selection problems to be in 19th position although he remains confident that the situation will improve after finding a suitable front tyre to hasten progress tomorrow.
• Carlos Checa (12th, 1'24.116, 47 laps)
  "The day started pretty well as we were very close to the front guys but lost a little in the afternoon. Truthfully though, the day was quite acceptable for our situation. We still need more grip on the side of the tyre, especially on the right side around here. In the slow area where we don't need so much throttle - we only open the throttle maybe 10-15% - this is no so bad but, the areas where you go harder on the gas at the back of the track I don't have enough support and grip in the rear. We have to find something in the settings and in the tyre which will improve this situation - especially the very fast downhill right hand turn. It is hard to put the bike on the side of the tyre and open the throttle hard to get drive. But saying that, lately in the last few races we are improving in all areas every time I ride the bike and to be closer to the other Yamaha's than we have been all year gives me a good feeling. This is what you need to keep trying after all the hard work the team and Dunlop have been doing so hopefully the progress will again continue tomorrow and I can move closer to the front."
• James Ellison (19th 1'25.833, 41 laps)
  "A steady start to the weekend really but from one round to the next the bike changes so much and you have to start from scratch all over again. The twists of the second split are the best bit for me at the moment but the fast bits where you dab the brake and let it run in, it just vibrates and there is no stability. I tried a wider rim today that seems to help but it makes it harsh although it improves the corner entry and that gives me more confidence. I think with the tyre construction we were using it's a lot stronger and doesn't seem to squash as much. What we need to do now is go back a bit to a little softer tyre as because the rim is wider the tyre is a lot stronger and there is no give in it. The harder tyre seems to be picking up all the bumps and ripples a lot more. At least we are finding a direction. I know we are a bit off Carlos at the moment but this afternoon we are near the time he was doing this morning so we are really a session behind. I think we will find a good direction now we have the new front tyre. We were so far off this morning and losing time with the wet track that this afternoon was really our first session. We made steps in this afternoon's session so I think tomorrow will be a lot better.
• Herve Poncharal - Tech3 Yamaha Team Director "I seem to say this every week but this first session was very good. Carlos is again lapping closer to the leaders and this morning was just 0.6 second off the fastest time. We know the lap times here are pretty close because of the low lap times but he is very close to the other Yamaha's which makes us happy. It shows that we are getting the right pace and have improved quite a lot on the tyre department. We lost half a session this morning but it is the same for everybody. It may be a bigger deal for us in a way as we need more track time than everybody else but c'est la vie, there is nothing we can do with the weather. "Although we haven't done a race distance yet, so far the feeling is not too bad to get the firm indication for what we need. The weather should be warmer tomorrow, with the sun expected to come out and we plan to do a lot of laps because the race is long. So far we are happy. "But I am worried for James. To be last is not good and the tyres have improved so much. We have to find some speed because it is now over halfway through the season and it is very important and crucial for him to be quicker."

KAWASAKI FRIDAY REPORT

• Shinya Nakano and Randy de Puniet remain confident that Sachsenring is a circuit that suits the characteristics of their Ninja ZX-RR MotoGP machines, despite the fact that set-up problems during today's free practice sessions left both Kawasaki pilots further down the timesheet than expected.
• Nakano finished this afternoon's free practice session thirteenth fastest, while his Kawasaki teammate, de Puniet, was one place further back in fourteenth.
• While yesterday's pre-event promotions were blessed with sunshine and 30-degree temperatures, overcast conditions and sporadic rain showers greeted Nakano and De Puniet as they arrived at the Sachsenring circuit this morning for the opening day of practice ahead of Sunday's 30-lap race.
• With track temperatures lower than predicted, Nakano and de Puniet struggled to find a set-up to suit the conditions during today's two practice sessions, with both riders complaining of a lack of rear traction that stopped them from carrying the high corner speed necessary for a fast lap of the tight and twisty Sachsenring circuit.
• Both riders will revisit their chassis and engine management settings together with their respective crews tonight, but Kawasaki's Technical Manager, Naoya Kaneko, is confident that small changes to set-up will pay dividends tomorrow, when the track temperature is again expected to rise.
• Shinya Nakano: 13th - 1'24.190
  "We were expecting a lot better from today, but we've had a few problems that we weren't really expecting and we've ended up a lot lower down the timesheet than we were hoping for. We need to sit down tonight and look at changing both our chassis balance and also our engine settings to improve our situation. At the moment the power comes in a little bit too aggressively and this makes the bike a little bit nervous and causes some pumping from the rear going into the turns, which nearly caused me to highside a couple of times today. We have some options on tyre choice, as well as some ideas on how to improve the chassis set-up, and I'm confident that we will see an improvement tomorrow. I think some small changes will make a big difference, which, in turn, will give me the confidence in the bike that you need here at Sachsenring - especially for the downhill corners like the right-hander at turn eight."
• Randy de Puniet: 14th - 1'24.582
  "At the start of this afternoon's session I immediately saw a one second improvement in my lap time, but then when I started to push for further improvements that's when I started to struggle with the bike. Halfway through the session I made a mistake and crashed at turn one without injury, but when I got back on track with my number two bike I just didn't feel confident exiting the turns because the rear tyre would spin up as soon as I touched the throttle. Through the slower turns I just didn't have the confidence to open the throttle when I wanted to, as again, the rear would just spin up straight away. As a result, I was losing time through every turn, which is why we finished today only fourteenth fastest. Overall today hasn't been such a good start, but we will look at our set-up overnight to see if we can find a solution and I'm confident that we will see an improvement tomorrow."
• Naoya Kaneko: Technical Manager
  "Today both riders were struggling with the feeling and the level of grip from the rear of the bike, which meant that they were unable to carry corner speed, nor get on the gas as early and as hard as they would have liked out of the turn. Tonight and tomorrow we need to focus on finding a good combination of rear tyre and suspension settings for this track, in order to instil more confidence in both riders. At a track like Sachsenring, where the bike spends a lot of time banked over on part throttle, even a small improvement in this area can lead to a big improvement in lap times."

PREVIEW   (TOP OF PAGE)

YAMAHA PREVIEW

• Yamaha Team this weekend at the vertigo-inducing Sachsenring circuit in Germany, host to the tenth round of the 2006 MotoGP World Championship. One of the tightest and most undulating tracks in the world welcomes the most unpredictable season in recent history, with Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards both having played their part in a dramatic campaign that has seen five different race winners, nine different riders on the podium and thirteen different front row starters.
• A roller-coaster season continues for the Camel Rossi added to his season-tally of three victories with a stunning second place in the last round at Donington Park, where he rode through the pain of hand and ankle injuries to put his YZR-M1 machine back on the podium and cut the gap to series leader Nicky Hayden (Honda) to 35 points. That memorable performance at his talisman track was the 121st time that Rossi had stood on a Grand Prix podium - the same number as Phil Read and a figure bettered only by the legendary Giacomo Agostini and Angel Nieto. Rossi has now also scored a total of 2977 points in all classes and victory in Germany would make him the first rider in history to pass the 3000 mark.
• Sixth place for Colin Edwards at Donington was the 30th successive race at which he has scored points, a record made all the more remarkable by the drama of the previous round at Assen, when he crashed out of the lead in the final corner only to remount and bravely struggle across the line in thirteenth place. The only rider with a longer sequence of successive point scoring finishes is Mick Doohan, who managed it for 37 races, but the more pressing issue for Edwards now is a return to the form that saw him fighting for victory in that breathtaking Dutch TT two weeks ago.
• Valentino Rossi: Back to fitness
  Valentino Rossi arrives in Germany with the benefit of an extra weekend to recover from the hand injuries he sustained in the middle of a Grand Prix triple-header at Assen. After struggling through the discomfort to score valuable points in Holland and Great Britain, he is now hoping to be fit enough to fight for his fourth win of the season and his fourth in all classes at the Sachsenring circuit.
• "I am very confident that by Sachsenring my hand will be back to 100%, or near enough," says Rossi, who won the German Grand Prix for Yamaha last year to add to previous MotoGP and 250cc successes in 2002 and 1999. "I have been working hard with my physiotherapist Marco Montanari and Dr Costa and hopefully it will continue to improve at this rate. It's really nice to have had time for a rest now after three very hard weeks, even if it's not so long. I spent some time in Italy and then a few days at home in London, relaxing and seeing friends.
• "The important thing for Sachsenring is that we come out of the box on Friday morning ready to make the most of every available minute of practice time. We can't afford to lose time in practice with set-up problems like we had in Donington, and I am sure that Yamaha has been working at the maximum over the break so we will be ready to be competitive from Friday morning. Sachsenring is quite a different track, very tight and twisty, but last year our bike worked very well there, we were able to win and hopefully that will be the case again this year."
• Colin Edwards: To Japan and back
  Whilst his team-mate and most of their rivals have had time to rest this week, the relentless pursuit of speed has continued unabated for Colin Edwards, who has been out in Japan completing testing work for Yamaha ahead of the Suzuka 8-Hour race. Edwards was at Suzuka for two days as he prepares to compete in the prestigious event on 30th July alongside Yamaha Superbike rider Noriyuki Haga, but he is already back in Europe and gathering his strength for another important weekend of MotoGP action.
• "It was hard to go straight out to Japan after such a long run of races but I'm quite excited about doing the 8-Hour again, especially as it's ten years since Nori and I won it together before," reflected Edwards, who will ride for the Yamaha Blue Racing Team aboard a specially prepared YZF-R1 SP. "Testing has gone quite well this week, just getting used to being back on a Superbike again and getting reacquainted with the track. We've got a competitive package so hopefully we're going to be in a position to really go for it when we go back for the race after Laguna.
• "Obviously there's a lot of work to do before then and the small matter of two GPs in two weekends, including my home race! Sachsenring will be really important because we had a lot of problems with the bike at Donington that we didn't solve and we can't afford to lose any more time. The track itself 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 pretty well with the layout and there are always a lot of fans so it should be a good weekend."
• Davide Brivio: Still enough time
  Camel Yamaha Team Director Davide Brivio is hopeful that a fully fit Valentino Rossi will appear at the Sachsenring on Thursday afternoon in readiness for a renewed assault on the championship standings when the action gets underway on Friday morning. Rossi's recent progress has been hampered by his injuries but with the benefit of a brief rest behind him Brivio remains confident that the World Champion has enough races to turn the situation around and successfully defend his title for the fifth time.
• "Now it's funny because we almost consider a weekend off as a break!" smiles Brivio. "Anyway we are hoping that this week gives Valentino a chance to recover and arrive at the Sachsenring with his injury troubles behind him. We are expecting him to be fit from Friday morning so we are hopeful of a 'normal' weekend for both him and Colin. The situation with Valentino has delayed our recovery in the championship over the past couple of rounds but there are eight races left and we still have enough time.
• "Our aim is to close the gap even further before the summer break so this race and the next one at Laguna Seca are very important. As far as the Sachsenring is concerned we had some problems with our bike there the first season with Valentino but we found a good setting last season and he was able to win the race. Sincerely I think the track suits the characteristics of the 2006 version M1 but we will have to wait and see on Friday morning. I hope so!"
• Technically speaking: Sachsenring according to Mike Norton 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 super fast downhill right hander which was added in 2003. It is this that provides the circuit's biggest challenge, for riders and technicians alike.
• "The Sachsenring is a difficult track - it's quite short and it's not one of Valentino's favourites," explains Mike Norton, Öhlins Suspension Technician for Valentino Rossi. "It's one of my busiest weekends because the set-up of the bike is all about finding a compromise between braking for that monstrous downhill section and handling through the slow sections. It's a bit of a trade-off really between getting Valentino good through the slow part and good enough to stop the bike at the bottom of the hill. Valentino often wins races on the brakes so he's a little bit different to most riders and you always have to have some margin in the front fork.
• "You also spend a lot of time on the edge of the tyre at Sachsenring, right on the angle, and again that causes us an imbalance in the bike compared to normal. But Valentino's feedback is very good compared to other riders I've worked with. You can give him a change and be miles off centre but he'll ride around it and you'll either see a good lap time or a bad one, which then gives us an idea of where to go. From that point of view he's very good to work with and he always gives you 100%."

HONDA RACE PREVIEW      (TOP OF PAGE)

• Round 10 of the riveting 2006 MotoGP season sees a confident Repsol Honda Team arriving at the Sachsenring circuit for this weekend’s German Grand Prix. With riders Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa at the head of the world championship and both stars boasting a strong past record at this track, the factory Honda team is looking to further extend its advantage in Sunday’s 30-lap race.
• Hayden, whose brilliant start to the year sees him leading the standings by 26 points, is eagerly anticipating the second phase of the season which features races at many of his favourite circuits. The 24-year-old American star took pole position at Sachsenring last year and led the two-part race, before finally crossing the line in a close third place just 0.885s behind the winner. With a win already under his belt this year, a strong showing here will be the perfect launch pad as Hayden heads to his home Grand Prix which takes place one week after Sachsenring.
• His team-mate, reigning 250cc World Champion Dani Pedrosa, comes to Germany aiming to continue the stunning form which took him to a dominant win in the last round at Donington Park. In a dazzling debut season, Pedrosa has already racked up three pole positions and two victories from the nine races so far, placing him second in the world championship. He’s consistently shown that having no previous MotoGP experience at a circuit is no obstacle to running at the front and, having won the previous two 250cc Grands Prix at the German circuit, the 20-year-old Spaniard has form on his side.
• Last year’s meeting at the 3.671km (2.280 miles) circuit was an eventful one with only the 250cc race running the full distance. In front of a huge 216,000-strong crowd the MotoGP race was stopped after five laps when John Hopkins crashed, with the restart being run over 25-laps. And the 125cc race was declared a result after 20 laps when Manuel Poggiali’s get-off also brought out the red flag. Hayden and Pedrosa will be looking to steer clear of such mishaps in Sunday’s race, which begins at the earlier than usual time of 12.30 CET.
• Nicky Hayden : World Championship Position: 1st : 153 points
  “We’ve had a short break and I’m really looking forward to getting to Germany : it’s a track I quite like. In the first section it’s pretty well follow-the-leader and you’ve just got to be patient and get through there, but the last part of the track I really like. The 5th gear drop-away is really good and it’s a pretty sweet feeling when you get that one right. For the bike set-up it’s important to have good edge grip at this circuit and that’s something we’ve struggled with a little bit this year, but nevertheless I’m looking forward to a good weekend. There’s a lot of racing still to go this year and there’s quite a few races coming up at tracks I like, so I’m definitely feeling ready for the second half of the season.”
• Dani Pedrosa : World Championship Position: 2nd : 127 points
  “As always this year my first job is to learn how to ride the RCV at this track. Sachsenring has some really slow sections and really fast sections so I don’t know how it will be to ride this bike. For sure the first part will be very tight because it was very tight on a 250 so I’m waiting to see how a MotoGP bike will feel through here. My results at this track have been pretty good in previous years but of course in MotoGP it will be a different challenge and I’m taking nothing for granted. At Donington we had the opportunity to ride a good race and get a good result : and we took the opportunity. That’s what we’ll be working towards this weekend as well. If everything goes well perhaps we can fight at the front, otherwise we’ll go for the best result we can, as always.”

KAWASAKI PREVIEW      (TOP OF PAGE)

DUCATI PREVIEW      (TOP OF PAGE)

• The Ducati Marlboro Team is set to return to its original 2006 line-up at the German Grand Prix, with Sete Gibernau rejoining Loris Capirossi following a four-week layoff.
• The Spaniard and the Italian were both injured in the same turn-one accident at the Catalan GP on June 18, Gibernau suffering a broken left collarbone, Capirossi sustaining chest injuries. Unluckily, the Catalunya event was the first of three races on consecutive weekends, and although Capirossi was able to race at the subsequent Dutch and British GPs, albeit in a weakened state, Gibernau's injury required surgery and several weeks' recuperation.
• This morning's (Monday, 10 July) final medical examination, however, confirmed that Sete has healed well and, consequently, gave the final "green light" to the Spanish rider, who is looking forward to getting back on his Ducati.
• Both riders hope to be close to 100 per cent fit for the Sachsenring, which immediately precedes the US GP on July 23.
• LORIS CAPIROSSI, Ducati Marlboro Team rider, 5th overall (107 points)
  "I hope to be 80 to 90 per cent fit for the race at Sachsenring. I don't think I will be 100 per cent fit because my doctors told me I would need 30 to 35 days from the accident to fully recover. The problem is that the injury is internal, so it's impossible to work on it effectively and it doesn't really respond to pain-killing therapies. I am looking forward to being able to ride properly once again.
• "The first part of the Sachsenring is just too tight and too slow for a MotoGP bike, I think that part is better suited to go-karts! But the second part, from turn six or seven, all the way to the finish can be quite interesting. Turn 12 is really tough, a very exciting corner, because you come out of turn 11 in third, shift to fourth, then fifth and throw the bike into Turn 12 at over 200 kays. This corner is blind, then it's steep downhill and you get sixth gear on the run to turn 13."
• SETE GIBERNAU, Ducati Marlboro Team rider, 13th overall (44 points)"I am really looking forward to returning to action! The shoulder is recovering well and I have been working to get fit as fast as possible. It is a pity that I've lost three races but now I just want to ride my Desmosedici again. I haven't watched the races on TV because I know that watching them would only make me feel really mad about not being there but I have been in constant contact with my team. I want to thank the team, the Dexeus hospital, especially Drs Mir and Ginebreda, and everyone else who has supported me because I have been looked after so well.
• "Sachsenring won't be the most comfortable circuit to ride with a collarbone injury. It's physically demanding because it's tight and slow, that's why the 250s can do similar lap times to MotoGP bikes. Anyway, I like the circuit and it holds good memories because I won there in 2003 and got second last year after a great race. I hope that all will go okay this time and that my shoulder won't be too much of a problem."
• LIVIO SUPPO, Ducati MotoGP project manager
  "We are really looking forward to having Sete and Loris together again. We hope Loris will be close to 100 per cent fit for this race and we also hope that Sete will be strong enough for a good comeback. We were so unlucky to have both riders suffer injuries at one of the busiest points of the season. We must keep looking forward and keep working for the best-possible results."
• THE TRACK
  The Sachsenring first appeared on the World Championship calendar way back in 1961. The high-speed street circuit quickly became one of racing's most popular venues, regularly attracting a quarter of a million sports-starved East German fans.
• The lethal street circuit hosted its last GP in 1972, an all-new short circuit returning the venue to the world calendar in 1998. At that time the new circuit was the slowest in GP racing, with a lap speed of just 143kmh/89mph. Revisions for 2000 upped the pace to 150kmh/93mph and the addition of an extra loop in 2001 increased lap speeds to the current 157kmh/98mph record. Nevertheless the character of the anti-clockwise circuit is still tight and twisty, putting the emphasis on delicate mid-range engine performance rather than brute top-end horsepower.

SUZUKI PREVIEW   (TOP OF PAGE)

• Rizla Suzuki MotoGP arrives in Germany this weekend for round 10 of the 2006 MotoGP World Championship, with both its riders eager to continue their recent run of good form.
• John Hopkins heads to the technical German track on the back of four consecutive top-10 finishes, looking to improve on his current 10th position in the Championship table. Chris Vermeulen secured his best dry qualifying position last time out at Donington and was looking for a strong finish, until a racing incident with Colin Edwards ended his challenge. The rookie Australian will be visiting Sachsenring for the first time and is hoping to learn the tricky circuit quickly, and to challenge for a high placed finish.
• Sachsenring is the shortest European track on the MotoGP calendar at only 3,671m long. Its tight and twisty nature means that outright speed is not so much a contributory factor to a good result, but smooth power delivery and correct tyre choice will be vital on this technical anti-clockwise track. Sachsenring is situated 100km from Dresden and will attract another huge crowd, with over 200,000 people expected to attend over the race weekend.
• Rizla Suzuki MotoGP will take to the track on Friday for two free practice sessions, followed by a further free session on Saturday morning and qualifying in the afternoon. The 30-lap Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland will get underway at the earlier time of 12.30hrs local time (10.30GMT) on Sunday 16th July.
• Paul Denning : Team Manager:
  “We are heading to Sachsenring in a positive spirit and look forward to turning our recent excellent qualifying performances into good finishes. It has been great to see the Rizla Suzukis running near the front and we need to continue to work hard on maintaining tyre durability in order to improve the results further. Bridgestone are fully committed to success, and this track has been kind to them in the past, so we are optimistic. The nature of the track should also suit the GSV-R’s excellent handling characteristics.
• “John is determined to get a good result here despite very bad memories of last year’s big crashes. We are expecting him to rise to the challenge : the best riders are fast at all the circuits and John is now firmly in that group!
• “Chris has never seen Sachsenring before but hopefully he’ll gel with the track layout early on and get into a quick rhythm as soon as possible. Both riders will be working hard to do their best and put on a good show for Suzuki Deutschland and its many guests.”

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