The MotoGP World Championship prepares to hold its ninth round this weekend at the Sachsenring, which represents the midway point of the 18 race series. The 3.761 kilometer German track is the second-shortest of the season after Laguna Seca, and it is distinguished by a preponderance of left-hand corners, in addition to a narrow, technical layout.
It’s a particular track in some ways, but one that’s popular with Valentino Rossi, who has won there five times in his career. Along with this team, he’ll continue to work on settings for the GP11.1, which debuted two races ago. Nicky Hayden, who tends to like counterclockwise tracks, is also fond of the German circuit, where he has climbed the podium on four occasions.
VALENTINO ROSSI, Ducati Team
“At Mugello we started working with the setup in a direction that we had never tried before. We used it Sunday in the warm-up, so we weren’t able to spend much time on it. The bike worked better in the race than it had in practice, but we still need to do more experiments with these settings, so at the Sachsenring we’ll see if they might be a good starting point. The track is tricky in some spots, but it’s a circuit that I like. Last year I returned to racing in Germany after the injury to my leg, and it was a nice race. We hope the weather and temperature will be good because we need to work on the setup as much as possible before the race.”
NICKY HAYDEN, Ducati Team
“Sachsenring is a tight, scrappy little track, but it’s one I quite like. It’s got the shortest lap time the whole year apart from Laguna, but it’s a long race, and we’re on the left side of the tire for much of the time. There are a lot of big left-handers, which I always enjoy, and I’ve had some good results there. The thing that sticks out for me is that it’s almost two parts: the first bit is really tight and slow, and then the last bit is really fast and open, especially with what they call the Waterfall corner, which is fifth-gear, downhill and blind. That’s about as good as it gets, and I’m not sure there’s a better corner on the entire calendar.”
VITTORIANO GUARESCHI, Team Manager
“The Sachsenring is very different from Mugello, and it will be interesting to learn whether the latest changes to the setup that we tried on the GP11.1 during the Italian GP will be a good starting point. We’ll see if those settings can also adapt to features like those of the German track, which is narrow and winding. Vale has won there on many occasions, and last year he rode well on his return from injury. Nicky has also made the podium there a number of times. We hope it will be nice for the entire weekend so that we can finally do all the practice sessions and the race with the same weather conditions.”
SACHSENRING CIRCUIT RECORDS
Circuit Record: Dani Pedrosa (Honda – 2010), 1:21.882 – 161.398 Km/h
Best Pole: Casey Stoner (Ducati – 2008), 1:21.067 – 163.020 Km/h
Circuit Length: 3.671 km
2010 MotoGP Race: 30 laps (110.130 km)
2010 MotoGP Schedule: 2:00 p.m. Local Time
2010 PODIUM: 1st Dani Pedrosa, 2nd Jorge Lorenzo, 3rd Casey Stoner
2010 POLE: Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha – 2010) 1:21.817 – 161.526 km/h
DUCATI TEAM BEST RESULTS AT SACHSENRING
2010: 3rd (Stoner)
2009: 4st (Stoner)
2008: 1st (Stoner)
2007: 2nd (Capirossi)
2006: 5th (Capirossi)
2005: 6th (Capirossi)
2004: –
2003: 3rd (Bayliss)
DUCATI TEAM – RIDER INFO
VALENTINO ROSSI
Bike: Ducati Team Desmosedici GP11
Race number: 46
Age: 32 (born in Pesaro 16 February 1979)
Residence: Tavullia (Pesaro, Italy)
GPs: 249 (189 x MotoGP, 30 x 250cc, 30 x 125cc)
First GP: Malaysian GP, 1996 (125cc)
Number of Wins: 105 (79 x MotoGP, 14 x 250cc, 12 x 125cc)
First GP win: Czech Republic GP, 1996 (125cc)
Poles: 59 (49 x MotoGP, 5 x 250cc, 5 x 125cc)
First Pole: Czech Republic GP, 1996 (125cc)
World Titles: 9 (6 x MotoGP, 1 x 500cc, 1 x 250cc, 1 x 125cc)
Rossi’s MotoGP track record at Sachsenring
2010: Grid: 5th; Race: 4th
2009: Grid: 1st; Race: 1st
2008: Grid: 7th; Race: 2nd
2007: Grid: 6th; Race: DNF
2006: Grid: 11th; Race: 1st
2005: Grid: 4th; Race: 1st
2004: Grid: 2nd; Race: 4th
2003: Grid: 4th; Race: 2nd
2002: Grid: 6th; Race: 1st
2001: Grid: 11th; Race: 7th
2000: Grid: 6th; Race: 2nd
Rossi’s 250 track record at Sachsenring
1999: Grid: 1st; Race: 1st
1998: Grid: 4th; Race: 3rd
NICKY HAYDEN
Bike: Ducati Team Desmosedici GP11
Race number: 69
Age: 29 (born 30 July 1981 in Owensboro, Kentucky, USA)
Residence: Owensboro, Kentucky, USA
Number of GPs: 142 (142 x MotoGP)
First GP: Japanese GP, 2003 (MotoGP)
Number of wins: 3 (3 x MotoGP)
First GP win: USA GP, 2005 (MotoGP)
Poles: 5 (5 x MotoGP)
First Pole: USA GP, 2005 (MotoGP)
World Titles: 1 (MotoGP, 2006)
Hayden’s MotoGP track record at Sachsenring
2010: Grid: 15th; Race: 7th
2009: Grid: 4th; Race: 8th
2008: Grid: 8th; Race: 13th
2007: Grid: 14th; Race: 3rd
2006: Grid: 3rd; Race: 3rd
2005: Grid: 1st; Race: 3rd
2004: Grid: 9th; Race: 3rd
2003: Grid: 15th; Race: 5th
