Honda rider Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC213V)
takes his World Championship lead to Germany this
week, to a racetrack at which he has won on his
last three visits. He will be joined at the
Sachsenring by MotoGP rookie team-mate Marc
Marquez (Repsol Honda RC213V) who is still very
much in the battle for the world title after a
storming ride to second at the Dutch TT a
fortnight ago. Marquez has also won on his last
three rides at the Germany GP venue.
Pedrosa and the Sachsenring have got along well
together ever since he graduated to the 250 class
after winning the 125 World Championship in 2003.
Since then the 27-year-old has won six Grands
Prix at the track; on his Honda RS250 in 2004 and
2005, on his RC212V in 2007, 2010 and 2011 and
last year aboard his RC213V. The sinuous circuit
that climbs and falls in countryside near the
ancient city of Chemnitz demands inch-perfect
accuracy and therefore suits Pedrosa’s sublimely
neat riding technique. His 2012 win at the track
kicked off a stunning run of results that had him
win seven of the season’s last 11 races.
Although Pedrosa leads the points chase, nine
points ahead of reigning champ Jorge Lorenzo
(Yamaha) and 23 ahead of Marquez, he has had a
difficult last three races, never quite getting
his machine to extract the maximum from the
Bridgestone control tyres. The Spaniard was
second behind Lorenzo at Mugello and Catalunya,
but only fourth at Assen, where he struggled to find grip as the race wore on.
Marquez too has an impressive record at the
Sachsenring, which first hosted a Grand Prix (as
a street circuit) back in 1961. The 20-year-old
won on a 125 in 2010 and on a Moto2 bike in 2011
and 2012. The reigning Moto2 World Champion has
made an astonishing entry into the elite class
this year, scoring podium finishes at six of the
first seven races, including his debut win at
April’s Grand Prix of the Americas, which made
him the youngest premier-class winner in six and
a half decades of Grand Prix racing. Only one
other rider has scored six podiums from his first
seven races in the premier class: American Kenny
Roberts, who went on to take the title at his first attempt, in 1978.
Inevitably, so much speed so early in his MotoGP
career has come with a few mistakes, including a
record-breaking crash at 337.8km/h (209.9mph)
during practice at Mugello and another heavy fall
at Assen, which left him nursing a broken finger
and toe. That didn’t stop the tough youngster from challenging for the win.
The German Grand Prix is, of course, the biggest
weekend of the season for home-grown hero and
2011 Moto2 World Champion Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda
RC213V) who will be aiming for his first MotoGP
podium just two weeks after scoring his first
MotoGP front-row start at Assen. Bradl has had an
up-and-down start to his second season in the
premier-class. After two tumbles at the first
three races his crew refined the set-up of his
RC213V and at Mugello he equalled his best MotoGP
result with a fine ride to fourth place. Since
then his team have made another significant
change, switching to Brembo brakes at the last race.
Bradl has good form at his home Grand Prix. He
has twice finished second – in the 2008 125 GP
and the 2011 Moto2 race – and last year he
finished a strong fifth on his RC213V.
Between Assen and this weekend’s race, Bradl and
Alvaro Bautista (Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini
RC213V) visited Argentina to try out the new
Termas de Rio Hondo circuit which will return the
nation to the MotoGP calendar next year. Both men
praised the circuit and look forward to racing
there in 2014. Bautista comes to the Sachsenring
hoping for a good result after a difficult race
at Assen and first-lap tumbles at Mugello and Catalunya.
The rookie season of Bryan Staring (GO&FUN Honda
Gresini FTR Honda) nears its halfway stage this
weekend, with the Australian working hard to get
in the points again. Staring scored his first
MotoGP points last month at Catalunya – where he
finished 14th – and knows that he once again has
a huge amount to learn at another circuit that is new to him.
The Honda-powered Moto2 World Championship is
sure to provide plenty of entertainment at the
tight and twisting Sachsenring as the battle for
the 2013 title tightens into a three-way fight.
Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing Team Kalex)
currently leads the way, thanks to five podium
finishes including wins at Le Mans and Mugello.
He is chased by Pol Espargaro (Tuenti HP40 Pons
Kalex) who has won the last two races following a
lean spell that had him score just one podium
from four races. Also in the mix is Espargaro’s
third-placed team-mate Esteve Rabat (Tuenti HP 40
Pons Kalex), who scored his first Grand Prix
victory at May’s Spanish Grand Prix.
Fourth overall, though some way behind the leader
on points, is Redding’s team-mate Mika Kallio
(Marc VDS Racing Team Kalex), making this year’s
Moto2 series something of a duel between the
Spanish Tuenti HP 40 Pons squad, owned by twice
250 World Champion Sito Pons, and the Belgian Marc VDS outfit.
One place behind Kallio sits Dominique Aegerter
(Technomag carXpert Suter), who scored his first
podium of the season with a fine ride to third place at Assen.
Following on from Bradl, Germany’s strongest
Moto2 riders so far this year are Marcel
Schrotter (Desguaces La Torre SAG Kalex) and
reigning Moto3 World Champion Sandro Cortese
(Dynavolt Intact P Kalex) who are 17th and 21st
in the standings. Schrotter has scored one
top-ten finish this year, at Jerez, while rookie
Cortese has already achieved three points-scoring
results as he serves his apprenticeship in this challenging category.
Alexis Masbou (Ongetta-Rivacold FTR Honda) is
Honda’s best-placed rider in the Moto3 World
Championship, the Frenchman holding seventh
overall after a run of strong top-ten
performances. Masbou goes well at the Sachsenring
– last year he scored his first GP podium at the
track, just six tenths away from victory.
South African teenager Brad Binder (Ambrogio
Racing Suter Honda) and Australian teenager Jack
Miller (Caretta Technology – RTG FTR Honda) round
out the championship top ten, with just one point between them.
Even before Pedrosa began his dominance of the
Sachsenring event, Honda riders have enjoyed
plenty of success at the track. At the end of the
500cc era, five-time World Champion Mick Doohan
won the venue’s inaugural premier-class GP in
1998 and Alex Barros took victory two years
later, both men riding Honda NSR500s. Honda
dominated the first years of MotoGP at the track,
with Valentino Rossi winning in 2002, Sete
Gibernau in 2003 and Max Biaggi in 2004, all
riding Honda’s RC211V. Pedrosa followed with his first success in 2007.
The original Sachsenring street circuit was first
used for racing in the late 1920s and hosted the
first GP behind the Iron Curtain in 1961. The
track regularly attracted crowds of 350,000 and
was last used for World Championship racing in
1972. Following German reunification, a
Sachsenring short circuit was constructed. The
venue hosted its first GP in 1998 and underwent
substantial upgrades a few years later. It is a
slow but complex and challenging circuit, with an
ultra-tight first section that leads into a
rollercoaster series of high-speed left-handers that are its dominant feature.
After Sunday’s racing the MotoGP circus
immediately heads across the Atlantic for next
weekend’s United States GP at Laguna Seca, which
hosts only the MotoGP class. The sport’s
traditional three weekend break is followed by
the Indianapolis GP – for all classes – on August 18.
Honda MotoGP rider quotes
Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda:
“This week we head to Germany and I hope we can
get a good feeling and have a good weekend.
Sachsenring has typically been a good track for
me in the past and it’s a circuit where I always
enjoy racing. It’s a short track where you spend
a lot of time on the left, but the fastest corner
is to the right, so tyre performance will be key.
It’s important to keep the momentum and ride my
best to keep fighting for race wins.”
Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda:
“It was a tough and complicated weekend in Assen,
but the important thing is that we learned a lot
and picked up another podium and some important
points. Now we head to Sachsenring, another new
circuit for us on the MotoGP machine. We will see
how the weather is there, as it can change quite
a lot! It will be interesting to see what the
circuit is like on this bike because it’s one of
the smallest circuits on the calendar and I
already found it small in Moto2, so I can’t
imagine how it will be in MotoGP! When we get
there, I’ll take my time to learn the lines with
my team, as we do every week, and try our best for another good result.”
Alvaro Bautista, Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini:
“I didn’t have confidence with the bike in the
race at Assen and couldn’t ride it as I wanted
but it was important for me and the team to make
it to the end of the race after two DNFs in the
previous two rounds. We have to look at this as a
building block for the second half of the season
now. I’m a little tired after the trip to
Argentina, where the authorities, press and fans
gave us an incredible welcome. I could have never
imagined motorcycle racing to be so popular in
Argentina but the track at Rio Hondo is
spectacular, one of the nicest I have ever
ridden. It has a lot of long, fast corners and
plenty of run-off so you can ride hard and have
fun. There are still a few minor things to sort
out but I think there could be some great races
there. For me it was a nice opportunity to try
out a new track and enjoy myself without any
pressure and it has given me a little boost ahead
of the next round. I had a good race in Germany
last year, coming from the back of the grid
following my penalty after an incident at Assen.
I made it back up to fifth place but made a
mistake and ended up seventh after an otherwise
great race. I am confident that by using the data
from last year and with the determination we have
to get a result after the disappointment of the
last race we can do very well at this Grand Prix.
Sachsenring is not an easy track and it is one of
the slowest on the calendar, especially through
the first section. There are a lot of
left-handers with elevation changes that make it
difficult to find a set-up but we will try to
find something that makes the bike handle well and accelerate hard.”
Stefan Bradl, LCR Honda MotoGP:
“The last period has been pretty busy for me but
I am looking forward to this weekend. Sachsenring
is a short and difficult circuit with no major
straight and a lot of left-handers. Honestly,
it’s not one of my favourite race tracks but my
family, my friends and my fans will be there to
support me. The Assen GP front row was a great
achievement for us but it would be nice to reward
my local crowd with another good performance.”
Bryan Staring, GO&FUN Honda Gresini:
“I go to Sachsenring feeling motivated because in
the race at Assen I realised that I am capable of
much better results than we have achieved so far.
I feel we have made progress recently and I want
to confirm this in Germany. I don’t know the
Sachsenring circuit but I hope it suits my riding
style and I will certainly be giving my best to
get to grips with it as quickly as possible. I am
determined and looking forward to getting out
there and trying to take that next step towards
becoming a contender amongst the CRT bikes.”
Moto2 rider quotes
Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing Team:
“I think this weekend could be a bit like Assen.
Last year we had some issues setting up the Kalex
at both tracks, but we knew some of the problem
was down to my riding style; I was just too
aggressive. This year I’ve changed my style to be
a bit smoother, so hopefully we can get the bike
dialled in quickly on Friday morning. As always,
the goal this weekend is the podium, but it would
also be good to extend my lead in the
championship by a few points ahead of the summer break.”
Pol Espargaro, Tuenti HP40 Pons:
“After winning the last two races I feel so
confident, but we still need to reduce the gap to
Scott after taking 17 points away from him at
Catalunya and Assen. I think Sachsenring will be
a good place for us to recover some more points.
Last year there I was very fast in the dry, but I
made a mistake in qualifying and had to start
from 17th on the grid. In the race I overtook a
lot of riders to finish fourth. I hope we can
have another good race and then go on holidays with less of a gap to Scott.”
Esteve Rabat, Tuenti HP 40 Pons:
“After making a mistake at Assen when the podium
was near, I really want to be on the podium in
Germany to reduce the gap between me and Pol and
Scott, or to help Pol reduce the difference to
Scott. I’ve just got back from Argentina where we
tried the new circuit. The whole trip was a
really good experience and it was great to ride
the track. Every time I’m on the bike – whether
in Argentina, at Almeria or at a GP – I feel so
happy. I think it’s possible to have a good
result in Germany. I didn’t have a great time
there last year but this year is different.”
Honda Moto3 Rider quotes
Alexis Masbou, Ongetta-Rivacold:
“For me this race is always quite difficult – in
fact this is always the most difficult point of
the season for me – but last year I took my first
Grand Prix podium at the Sachsenring! I am still
not expecting much, just staying focused and
working hard to get what points we can.”
Brad Binder, Ambrogio Racing Suter:
“Sachsenring has always been a track that I’ve
been good at. I had three second places there in
the Red Bull Moto GP Rookies Cup, and last year I
was fourth in the Moto3 race when my bike broke
down. I am very confident going into the
weekend. The straights aren’t so long, so it
will be easier to be closer to the front.”
Jack Miller, Caretta Technology – RTG:
“I got my best result at the Sachsenring last
year, and I hope to improve on it this time. The
track should suit the bike more than the last few
tracks, and I like it a lot. My goal as always is to be top Honda.”