Repsol Honda Team arrives in Germany as a solid leader of the World Championship.
Nicky Hayden leading the overall standings followed by team mate Dani Pedrosa. The Repsol Honda Team leads the teams’ standings.
Final sprint of the 2006 Motorcycling World Championship before the summer break. For some riders – those of the 125cc and 250 cc classes -, Germany will be the last Grand Prix before the summer holidays; a last big effort before a deserved break. Not so for the MotoGP riders who will have to contest a complicated and demanding USA Grand Prix one week later before starting their holidays.
Nicky Hayden, after the difficult weekend in England – seventh – will face this new challenge knowing that mistakes like the one at the latest Grand Prix cannot be repeated if he wants to fight for the World Championship title. The North American rider of the Repsol Honda Team is with no doubt the most consistent rider of the class and he knows that he and his team must be back at the usual level of competitiveness in Germany, a layout Hayden likes, where he finished third in 2005. Team mate Dani Pedrosa, after his recent victory in England, has already told that the Sachsenring is a complicated circuit due to its narrowness and twisty layout and that he thinks that it will be more difficult for him on the MotoGP bike than on the 250cc bike with which he took the victory last year.
In the 250cc, Martín Cárdenas will be back into action this weekend after having to miss the British Grand Prix due to injury. Cárdenas, fractured his left collarbone in Holland in the first lap of the race but will reappear this weekend almost recovered, although he does not know yet what his feelings will be on the bike after such a recent injury. Team mate Shuhei Aoyama, despite the dreadful weekend in England arrives in Germany with an intact morale, aiming at a place on the podium at a circuit he already knows.
In the minor class, Bradley Smith will be back into action after relishing during this short break the thought of his successful home Grand Prix in England ten days ago, where the young Repsol rider scored his first points after finishing in an excellent twelfth position.
The venue of the GP:
Sachsenring Circuit
The 3.7 kms of the Sachsenring Circuit wind between green hills, 100 kms from the German city of Dresden and very close to Chemnitz. This small town and its surroundings have a large motorsport tradition that goes back to the 1920’s. Between 1920 and 1990, car races where held on closed public roads in the area around the town. Due to safety reasons, however, it was decided to build a brand new circuit known as the Sachsenring, five miles west of Chemnitz. Inaugurated in 1995 as a driver training centre and rebuilt a year later, the Sachsenring hosted the German Grand Prix for the first time in 1998 and has been improved several times since then, including a large remodelling of the pit garages in 2001. The first section of the circuit is slow and it has to be dealt with with little acceleration, highly depending on the chassis’ efficiency, the engine’s docility and the good grip of the tyres. As opposed to most of the circuits, there are twice as much left-hand corners at the Sachsenring as right-hand ones and the track direction is counter clockwise. The modern facilities of the Sachsenring have a capacity for up to 65.000 spectators.
Official website: http://www.sachsenring.de
Rider´s comments:
Nicky Hayden:
‘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:
‘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.’
Shuhei Aoyama:
‘After the dreadful weekend in Donington, I have to fight for the podium places this weekend in Germany so we’ll have to be really focussed and watchful from the first practice day. I have some experience at the Sachsenring because we had a tyre test day there with the 125cc machine last year, after the Grand Prix, so I know the layout and I like it a lot. It’s a circuit that gives me very good feelings.’
Martín Cárdenas:
‘Fortunately the recovery is being quick and very positive. Last Wednesday they took off half of the clips of the wound and today, Tuesday, they are going to take off the rest. I feel good, the collarbone does not hurt and I can do almost all movements. The rehab has been perfect and I think that I’ll be all right for the German Grand Prix. I like the Sachsenring layout, I feel very comfortable there. Last year I managed to score there – I was 15th, so this year I hope to be able to improve that position although I know that we have to wait and see how I feel on the bike.’
Bradley Smith:
‘After scoring my first points at my home Grand Prix I obviously arrive in Germany in high spirits, although I’m neither going to lower the guard nor have any special expectations. Now we have to keep on working, focussed to the top, because I know that if we do things right and we get a good place on the starting grid we’ll have more chances to keep on scoring. I’m really looking forward for this weekend to enjoy another Grand Prix.’
