Final sprint before the summer break for the Repsol riders.
De Puniet arrives at the Sachsenring fully confident after his victory in England. Hayden, Biaggi and the rest of the Repsol riders, hoping to improve in Germany
After reaching the half-way point of the 2005 season last week in England, the World Championship is now getting closer to the longed for summer break; a short period of rest to recover and get ready for the final sprint of the calendar. After Germany the action will be back one month later in the Czech Republic, and after the Brno circuit, the World Championship will set a course for Japan, Malaysia, Qatar, Australia and Turkey, to get back to Europe for the final Grand Prix of the 2005 season in Valencia in early November. Little conclusions can be drawn from the performance of the Repsol Honda Team at the chaotic race last weekend in Donington, where the intense rainfall turned the Grand Prix into a never-ending stream of crashes. Max Biaggi and Nicky Hayden, together, hardly managed to stay five laps on their bikes and in the case of Max, he even crashed twice before making his way to the pit garage. As they both say, improving the result in England won’t be too complicated.
In the 250cc, England was a hard but profitable Grand Prix for Repsol riders Randy De Puniet, Dani Pedrosa and Sebastián Porto. Not only the excellent and hardly fought for victory of Frenchman De Puniet is worth to mention, but also the positive results of Pedrosa and Porto on a wet track, a condition under which none of them feels excessively comfortable. But Pedrosa’s fourth place and Porto’s fifth are not the results expected for these two riders this weekend at the Sachsenring. Pedrosa, Porto and victorious De Puniet have already told that they want to go on holidays with a new success in their records.And in the minor class, Héctor Faubel, after his spectacular crash last weekend in Donington, will be back in a circuit where he wasn’t able to race last year due to a shoulder injury suffered during the Rio Grand Prix in Brazil. Fortunately and despite the heavy crash in England, Faubel will be back on his bike this weekend with the intention of taking the longed-for victory.
Repsol rider´s comments:
MotoGP. Nicky Hayden: I have gone pretty well at Sachsenring in the past. I wouldnt say its the most fun track but weve had some pretty good results there. The first year, I started 15th and finished fifth and last year got a podium. Some of the big left handers really remind me of some of the dirt tracks back home, and I really like the down hill section towards the end of the track when it really falls away. Its really fast and quite exciting. As always when we have a bad race day I just want to get straight back on the back and Im glad that we havent got any break before the next race.
MotoGP. Max Biaggi: ‘After the disaster at Donington I come to the Sachsenring determined to have a good result and good performance for my fans, for my team and for myself. I left the UK in the rain sad for my performance. The Sachsenring race will be a further proof of our competitiveness. I look forward to riding on the German track where in the last few years we have made some beautiful races. I remember well last year when we make the pole position and we win the race. It was for me the perfect weekend and sadly one that has not happened since last year. For me it is so frustrating knowing that I have the ability to be regularly on the front row and be regularly on the podium but at the moment it is just not happening. Lets hope that the race this weekend will see a change in fortune.
250cc. Dani Pedrosa:
Sachsenring is a circuit where I did quite well last year; I started fifth, set a great pace and ended-up winning the race with an advantage of more than five seconds. The British Grand Prix had gone well in 2004 as well, but due to the bad weather I was only able to finish fourth. I hope for good weather conditions and no rain. Im feeling more and more comfortable on a wet track, but, frankly, I prefer a dry one. I have a comfortable advantage in the Championship standings, but we shouldnt feel over-confident, because this year the 250cc are more contested than ever.
250cc. Sebas Porto:
The result in England wasnt bad, especially considering the problems I had during the practices and the hard conditions of the race. Im happy but it is not what I would have liked. I like the German circuit; its also a very slow track and, as we all know its not very favourable for the Aprilia. Anyway, I think that if we do a good job from the beginning and we’re lucky with the weather, we’ll be able to get a good result.
250cc. Randy De Puniet:
The result achieved in England makes me feel in high spirits for the German Grand Prix, although Sachsenring is not one of my favourite tracks. I finished fourth last year but that it seems that we have found the right path, Ill give it all to win again. Its a circuit with mostly left hand side corners. Very narrow at the beginning but wider in the end and overtaking is very difficult. The most important is to do a good job during the practices to get a good place on the starting grid.
125cc. Héctor Faubel: What happened at the British Grand Prix was a real shame, but under such conditions and with so much water, finishing the race or not was a real lottery. Too bad we couldnt score any point, but the most important is that I didnt hurt myself much. Now Im only thinking about the German GP. Sachsenring is a circuit I like quite a lot, but last year I wasn’t able to race there due to my shoulder injury. Lets see if luck is on our side at this race and we’re able to step again on the podium.
The venue of the GP
Sachsenring circuit (www.sachsenring-circuit.com)
The German Sachsenring circuit is located in Hohenstein-Ernstthal, some 10 km from the city of Chemnitz and 100 km from Dresden, in the German region of Sachsen, former East Germany. The area has a motor sport tradition of more than eighty years – since the late 1920s-, when both car and motorcycle races where held on closed public roads in the area around the town. Races on the semi-urban circuit of 8.7 km in length where staged there until 1990, but due to safety reasons it was finally decided to built the Sachsenring circuit. Inaugurated in 1996 as a Road Safety Centre, Sachsenring has been host to the German Grand Prix continuously since 1998.
Several changes have been carried out to constantly improve it, from the first in 1997 until the last one in 2001, for the large refurbishment of the pit area. The Sachsenring takes up more than 44 hectares and its short and twisty layout of 3,671 m, running between green hills, is made up by 10 left-hand and 4 right-hand corners. The track direction is counter clockwise and the start/finish straight, with 780 metres, is the longest of the circuit.
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 engines docility and the good grip of the tyres. The most important is the set-up of the chassis and a soft power delivery of the engine, as well as a good choice of tyres. As opposed to most of the circuits, there are twice as much left-hand corners at the Sachsenring as right-hand ones, causing the tyres to suffer a much higher wear on the left-hand side. You really need tough nerves to face the wild skidding, extreme braking and top speeds of 290 km/h and manage to get a place on the podium.
Excitement is guaranteed both for the riders as well as for the 65,000 spectators that can be received by the Sachsenring circuit. The records of the German track were broken in the three classes in 2004 and are held by Alex Barros in MotoGP (124.056), Sebastián Porto in the 250cc (125.118) and Héctor Barberá in the 125cc (127.680).
