With Pedrosa back to competition since the last Italian Grand Prix, the whole Repsol Honda Team and Marc Márquez lands in Germany with high aspirations
The MotoGP World Championship moves this weekend to Sachsenring circuit —Germany— to celebrate the ninth round of the calendar. The Repsol riders, determined to followed the trend set in Mugello, reach the midpoint of the season with the aim to keep the good results obtained two weeks ago on the Italian track. There, a double podium for Dovizioso and Stoner in MotoGP and a win for Márquez in Moto2 were an excellent outcome for the Repsol riders, together with the remarkable result of Dani Pedrosa in his return to competition.
The German round will be the second Grand Prix for the Spaniard, after being away from competition for several races. After his eighth position in Mugello, the Repsol Honda Team rider will try to take a step ahead in his recovery at the Sachsenring, a track full of good memories for him, where last season he had a memorable victory after an intense duel with Jorge Lorenzo.
Exactly a year ago, the third position was for Casey Stoner, who arrives in German on the Repsol Honda livery this year as the leader of the premiere category after showing that he is in excellent from. After setting the pole position in Italy, he signed yet another podium in the race, after battling for the second place with his team mate at the Repsol Honda Team, Andrea Dovizioso. The Italian rider, who has never got on the podium in Sachsenring, has already finished four times on the rostrum this season and will focus on keeping the pace that will allow him to enter the battle for victory.
A win that Marc Márquez was able to take in Italy, his second consecutive triumph of the season and third win this year. Those results put him on the second position of the Moto2 overall classification. The Repsol rider goes back to the Sachsenring track determined to keep the same level he has shown up to now, that has made of him, not only the best rookie of the class, but one of the referents of the grid. Emilio Alzamora’s pupil already knows victory in Germany —in 2010 he got on the highest step of the podium in the 125cc class— and will try to keep gathering good results in his first season in the intermediate category.
Dani Pedrosa
“The last race in Mugello was good because after a long time without racing, I saw that I haven’t lost the ability to go fast. I have to regain fitness and this week I have worked hard. I’ve always had very good races at Sachsenring and it’s good to get to a track where you know you can do well. Contrary to Mugello, Germany is all almost left hand corners and this must help me. Last year, we had a great race there and hopefully we can do a good job again during practices, hope nothing goes wrong and come out with a good chance for the race”.
Andrea Dovizioso
“We arrive in Germany strong and competitive. The second place in front of the Italian crowd at Mugello gave us an extra boost to continue working and improving race after race. The post GP test at Mugello was an important occasion to fine tune the set up of the bike and try a new swing arm. We had good feedback so we arrive in Germany with a good base and I think we will use the new swing arm as the feeling was positive and lap times came easier. I enjoy going to Sachsenring, it has a good atmosphere and there are always a lot of spectators. However, as a circuit it is very different from Mugello, it’s a quite short racetrack, with a very slow first section followed by a very fast second half. We will work hard from the first practice session, as we did in Mugello, this is very important to prepare the machine for the race. I’m very motivated, we are third in Championship and we want to continue gaining important points for the season”.
Casey Stoner
“I’m looking forward to going to Sachsenring, it’s a circuit where we’ve enjoyed good results in the past few years. The track is very tight and technical so it demands a different style of riding and we also need to set the bike up in a different way. It’s pretty tough on tyres as the majority of corners are long left handers so the wear on the left hand side of the tyre is quite significant. It takes a lot of work to get a good set up in order to have a good pace for the race distance. I really enjoy this race, the atmosphere is amazing and the countryside is beautiful. We’ve always been pretty fast there and I’m sure with the Honda we can be competitive”.
Marc Márquez
“After two consecutive victories, we arrive in Germany with maximum motivation, but we know that we need to keep the same frame of mind we had until now. We have to focus on our job and do it well, taking full advantage of our time on track. Sachsenring is a special track, one of the shortest of the championship, if not the shortest, with a very slow first part where it is very difficult to set the difference. This will be specially obvious in Moto2, where there are a lot of riders and the level is very close. The second half of the track is faster and I like it more. We will try to keep the concentration during the whole weekend, prepare the race well and get a good result to start the summer break on a high”.
