Yamaha Factory Racing’s Valentino Rossi made a welcome return to the Sachsenring podium today with third in the Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland. Today’s podium finish is his first at the Sachsenring circuit since his victory with Yamaha in 2009 and is a mark of his continued return to form following his Assen victory two weeks ago.
Starting from third on the grid the nine-time World Champion took the hole shot into turn one and led local German rider Stefan Bradl into the first lap. As Rossi struggled to find grip from the rear Bradl was able to pass on turn 12. As the laps wound down pole man Marc Marquez squeezed for the lead. Rossi was able to pick up the pace again with 22 laps to go, re-passing Bradl for second position. Mid-race distance saw tyre wear drop dramatically and with 15 laps remaining Rossi was forced to allow satellite Yamaha rider Cal Crutchlow to pass. Despite the lack of grip he was able to build a gap of nearly 4 seconds to Bradl in fourth to secure third place and a second successive podium finish of the season.
The result puts Rossi on 101 Championship points, six behind Crutchlow in fourth. Teammate Jorge Lorenzo now sits in third position in the Championship on 127 points having missed the race through injury. Despite the set back he is just 11 points behind leader Marquez.
No decision has yet been made for Lorenzo’s participation in the Laguna Seca race as he recovers from yesterday’s collarbone surgery in Barcelona. His team will travel to the USA and set up as normal should the reigning World Champion decide to ride in next weekend’s Grand Prix.
Valentino Rossi 3rd / +9.620
“It’s a good result, to stay on the podium is always a good result but I expected something more and to do a better race. During the weekend we made some choices, yesterday we decided to set up the bike in one way and today after some laps I started to suffer too much. The first ten laps were not so bad but after I started to have problems and it was too difficult to turn the bike, especially on the left I was sliding too much. We have to work to try and make another step to stay with the top guys. Next we will have Laguna, a very special track, and we will try to have better results there. We are five very fast riders and we are closer now because unfortunately Dani and Jorge are injured and we have another race next week. If I want to fight for the Championship I have to go faster and I have to be constantly faster so I have to make another step.”
Massimo Meregalli – Yamaha Factory Racing Team Director
“We worked the entire weekend to manage the tyre life in the best way possible but we couldn’t make it as we wanted. We had a decent pace and in the end we got a podium, that is an important result and we got points. We knew at the beginning that this circuit was not one of the favourites for us and we had to manage it. We are looking forward to Laguna to fight for the positions that we are used to be fighting for. We are pleased that Jorge’s surgery was completed successfully yesterday and we wish him a very speedy recovery. We have made no decision yet on when he will return to race however we will bring his crew to Laguna to be prepared for any eventuality.”
Crutchlow and Smith equal season best in Germany
Cal Crutchlow and Bradley Smith equalled their season best results at Germany’s Sachsenring today, the British duo storming to a fantastic double top six finish for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team.
Crutchlow raced to an outstanding fourth podium in the last five races to continue his amazing record-breaking exploits in the 2013 World Championship, while Smith showed tremendous speed and consistency to secure a second top six finish in his rookie campaign. On form Crutchlow produced a scintillating surge through the field after he’d been dropped back to sixth in a frenetic opening to the 30-lap race. The 27-year-old’s brilliant charge gathered momentum on lap four when he dived underneath Alvaro Bautista to slot into fourth at the final corner. He then pressured home crowd favourite Stefan Bradl into a mistake at the final corner on lap 10 to move into the top three. With adrenaline and the non-stop action taking his mind of numerous cuts, bruises and friction burns he suffered in two heavy practice crashes, he then executed a brave but perfect pass on Valentino Rossi at Turn 12 on lap 16 to snatch second. At that stage of the race, Marc Marquez had established a comfortable advantage of 2.8s. But demonstrating his never give up attitude and fighting spirit, Crutchlow launched a relentless pursuit of the Spaniard that kept fans on the edge of their seats right to the chequered flag. Crutchlow narrowed the gap to 1.5s but Marquez was unflappable, though Crutchlow’s second place helped him secure another personal milestone in his third premier class season. Today’s result saw him become the first British rider to score four or more podium MotoGP finishes since the legendary Barry Sheene in 1982.
Not be to be outdone, Smith’s eye-catching ride ensured he played an important role in a landmark result, with today’s race the first time two British riders have finished inside the top six in a premier class encounter since the Donington Park round back 1993. Starting from seventh on the grid, the 22-year-old held onto that place while he was comfortably able to streak away from a chasing pack that included MotoGP race winners Andrea Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden.
He moved into the top six on lap seven and feeling comfortable and confident on the YZR-M1 machine he pushed hard to try and bridge a gap of close to three seconds to Bautista in fifth. He kept the Spaniard firmly in his sights throughout the race but was happy to settle for a richly deserved top six.
The most pleasing aspect for the rookie was the 25-second gap to race winner Marquez, which was the closest Smith has finished to first place in 2013, and provides further proof of his rapidly growing confidence with the YZR-M1 machine.
Cal Crutchlow 2nd– 107 points :
“I am really happy to be on the podium again because it was a hard race in my physical condition. The two crashes in practice took a lot out of me but I dug deep and it is great to get another podium for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team. I actually made a really good start but I had to roll off the throttle when Marc came towards me and that cost me a few places. The bike worked really well in the first few laps and I was able to fight my way through and I really enjoyed it. In the second half of the race the bike felt great and I was fast. I came on strong and pulled away from Valentino and I did absolutely everything I could to close down Marc. I couldn’t have done anything more but credit to him because he didn’t make a mistake, he controlled the gap to me very well and he deserved to win. I just kept on pushing and at the end second is another fantastic result. It is my fourth podium and I am not so far back in the Championship, so I can’t really ask for anything more. Now we go to Laguna trying to fight for another podium and hopefully that first win.”
Bradley Smith 6th– 51 points :
“I am truely happy with this sixth place. I got a good start and I was really pleased with my pace for most of the race. It is particularly pleasing because this is a track where I expected to struggle more because it has a lot of left-hand corners and you are constantly pushing with the left part of your body. That’s where my injury is but I felt strong for the whole race. I’m also pleased that we managed to reduce the gap to the winner by another seven seconds and I think 25 seconds is not too bad at the moment. There were so many positives but I had a little bit of an issue with rear grip and I think we can still improve our setting to make that better. I still believe I did a really good job and now the next objective is to get closer to Bautista on the satellite Honda. This result has given me a lot of confidence and I am really looking forward to going to Laguna Seca. It is a very difficult track and while I did test there earlier this year on a production bike I am still expecting a tough weekend.”
2013 MotoGP Germany
Sachsenring 14/07/2013
race I
1 Marc Marquez Honda ESP 41’14.653
2 Cal Crutchlow Yamaha GBR 0’01.559
3 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 0’09.620
4 Stefan Bradl Honda GER 0’13.992
5 Alvaro Bautista Honda ESP 0’21.775
6 Bradley Smith Yamaha GBR 0’25.080
7 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati ITA 0’30.027
8 Aleix Espargaro ART ESP 0’30.324
9 Nicky Hayden Ducati USA 0’45.355
10 Michele Pirro Ducati ITA 0’47.142
11 Hector Barbera FTR ESP 0’47.824
12 Randy De Puniet ART FRA 0’48.523
13 Colin Edwards FTR Kawasaki USA 0’54.428
14 Danilo Petrucci Ioda-Suter ITA 1’00.323
15 Claudio Corti FTR Kawasaki ITA 1’05.530
MotoGP World Standing
Rider Standings After Race 8 of 18
1. Marc Marquez Honda ESP 138
2. Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 136
3. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha ESP 127
4. Cal Crutchlow Yamaha GBR 107
5. Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 101
6. Andrea Dovizioso Ducati ITA 74
7. Stefan Bradl Honda GER 64
8. Alvaro Bautista Honda ESP 58
9. Nicky Hayden Ducati USA 57
10. Aleix Espargaro ART ESP 52
11. Bradley Smith Yamaha GBR 51
12. Michele Pirro Ducati ITA 36
13. Andrea Iannone Ducati ITA 24
14. Randy De Puniet ART FRA 19
15. Hector Barbera FTR ESP 18
16. Danilo Petrucci Ioda-Suter ITA 15
Circuit Length:
3671
Weather:
Sunny
Lap Record:
1’21.846
(Daniel Pedrosa, 1-1-2011)
Fastest Lap Ever:
1’21.067
(Casey Stoner, 13-7-2008)
Last Years Winner:
Daniel Pedrosa
Manufacturer Standings
14/07/2013
1 Honda 176
2 Yamaha 172
3 Ducati 75
4 ART 52
5 FTR 19
6 Ioda-Suter 15
7 FTR Kawasaki 13
8 PBM 3
Team Standings
14/07/2013
1. Repsol Honda Team 274
2. Yamaha Factory Racing MotoGP Team 228
3. Monster Yamaha Tech3 158
4. Ducati Team 131
5. Power Electronics Aspar 71
6. LCR Honda MotoGP 64
7. Go&Fun Honda Gresini 60
8. Pramac Racing Team 55
9. Avintia Blusens 20
10. NGM Mobile Forward Racing 18
11. Came Ioda Racing Project 15
12. Paul Bird Motorsport 9
