MotoGP Riders speak out on the 2017 Sachsenring MotoGP
MotoGP 2017 – Round Nine – Sachsenring
Images by AJRN
Marc Marquez – P1
“I’m very, very happy. I knew before the weekend that this was an important moment in the Championship and that the Sachsenring was an important circuit for us. It was the place to take a risk if necessary and to try to win. So I’m happy we took these 25 points and the lead in the Championship before the summer break. I wish to dedicate this win to Nicky (Hayden) and his family. I had promised this to myself after his incident because we had some very good moments together and he was a friend. The race was very tight. Honestly, before the start I thought I would have to battle with Dani, but actually there was also another very fast opponent. I was very surprised at the beginning to see Jonas there, and I thought he might stay in between with the other riders, but he actually remained there! He was quite a tough opponent! The Championship is very close with four riders within 10 points and with Dani also not far away. Everything is open, so we’ll keep the same mentality, the same positivity and hard work. Now we have a few days of holidays, but not too much to be ready for Brno test!”
Jonas Folger – P2
“I don’t really know what to say other than I am so happy and I still can’t quite believe what we achieved! I fought with Marc for the victory and we had a great performance. I especially showed that I can get on the podium, which is a super feeling and a big boost for my confidence. In the past, Johann had a lot of good races whereas I sometimes didn’t because I made some small mistakes, but today I finally feel like I showed my potential. I think that we have to enjoy this moment and take the positive points that we made here to Brno and into the rest of the season. Thanks to my team for their work and I am already looking forward to getting back on my Yamaha in the Czech Republic after the summer break.
Dani Pedrosa – P3
“I’m happy enough with this podium. We worked very well this weekend, trying to manage every situation. In the race I felt really strong in the first laps and was able to stay close to Marc. Then I started to lose grip in the rear tyre, but I thought ‘Okay, no problem; it’s going to be a long race and it’s normal to lose some grip.’ But when Jonas passed me, I tried to follow and I couldn’t keep contact. I tried to manage but when I felt the tyre was spinning too much I settled for a podium. I expected to be a little bit stronger but all in all it was a positive result, as we gathered some good points for the Championship. I feel positive, we have two days to test during the summer, and we’ll work on the areas we know we must improve, especially to make the tyres work well no matter the conditions in order to be more consistent in the second part of the Championship.”
Maverick Vinales – P4
“I’m really confident about the championship. Starting from eleventh and in the end arriving in P4 losing a lot of time overtaking riders, I was still quite close to Dani, so that means we really did a good job during the whole race. My impressions of the race are good, we did a good job to recover the maximum number of positions, which today was to fourth. We are quite happy, we know we still need to improve the bike, but overall it was quite nice. After Assen being in second place is positive, but compared to after Mugello it isn’t as positive because we were creating a gap in the standings. We suffered a lot in Montmeló and made a mistake in Assen, but overall it’s quite good, even with the mistakes we are still at the front. To continue like that we need to work a little bit more, especially in qualifying and preparing better for the race. It’s all in our hands to try to make it better. I will try to improve my riding style and to come back stronger and fitter, so a one-month break will be good.”
Valentino Rossi – P5
“It was a difficult weekend, because we suffered a lot, like we had done at other tracks this year, but fortunately we were able to work better. The race was not so bad, because I kept a good pace going from the beginning until the end. I‘m happy when I fight for the podium, but still this fifth place is quite good, these are good points for the championship and we are just ten points from the top, so I think the championship is still very much open. I think I will relax for two weeks now and, after two weeks of staying with my friends and recharging my batteries, I will start to train because we have arrive in Brno ready, at a 100% fitness level.”
Álvaro Bautista – P6
“I’m happy because I knew I had a good rhythm in the dry, and although qualifying and the conditions on track yesterday were not the best, today I’ve had some fun going forward. We have been consistent throughout the race. This year we have had some bad luck but our true level should always be like in this race. Let’s be positive and think that everything will be fine from now on. We will recharge the batteries to get stronger and try to continue closing on the leaders. It is difficult to fight for the top five, there are a lot of factory bikes, but we will try to give the maximum in each race. Talk of a podium is almost impossible, unless circumstances dictate. You have to be realistic and optimistic and think that finishing in the top six of the World Championship with all the bikes that are out there can be a great result.
Aleix Espargaro – P7
“A good result, but to be honest I expected something even more. With the exception of Jonas and Marc, who did an extraordinary race, I thought that I could have been closer to the podium. Unfortunately, at the beginning I had to force a lot to overtake, stressing the front tyre and losing a few tenths. In any case, it was a positive weekend for us. We are progressing step by step. Staying with the strongest riders for almost the entire race is positive. Now I am thinking about relaxing during the break and being ready when we turn up at Brno.”
Andrea Dovizioso – P8
“It’s a pity about my final position. We chose the soft rear tyre option for the race but we didn’t have much data because we didn’t do many laps in the dry, and unfortunately the risk didn’t pay off. Towards the end of the race I struggled because the performance of the tyre dropped off suddenly and quite a lot, but this is a very strange championship and it’s not always easy to manage the different situations. In the end the weekend here at the Sachsenring was quite complicated but also interesting for the future, because we were able to understand quite a bit more, both about the bike and about the tyres. In the race I felt good and I’m really happy about the feeling I had with my bike, so I think that we can do well in the next few races.”
Johann Zarco – P9
“Overall, it was a great race for me today in Germany. On the first day, I felt good but then the weather made things difficult on Saturday and I had a crash in FP3, which complicated matters so in the end, I started from 19th. Yet, I kept calm and I managed the GP lap by lap, which allowed me to overtake my opponents. I saw that the other riders started to struggle and I was stronger so I thought that I could almost take 7th and 8th but they were a bit too far in front. It is difficult to overtake here at Sachsenring but I did my best even if it was tough to be at the back of the group. However, I am happy because it has been a great experience and we are leaving this Grand Prix, for the summer break, in a positive way. I am also very pleased with what Jonas did. In the race, he was so good and it was great for our team and for him so overall, I am happy for everyone.”
Cal Crutchlow – P10
“I am quite disappointed and I’m glad it’s over. We had a front tyre grip issue, the team is investigating the problem but what we know so far is that the front tyre pressure went too high after few laps. I had to slow down, I had to ride alone if I wanted to finish the race. I nearly went down two or three times on those first laps, but I managed to pass Valentino (Rossi) and if I could have stayed ahead I’m confident I could have ridden to my own rhythm. But I finished tenth and we are looking forward to the next race”.
Jorge Lorenzo – P11
“I can’t be satisfied with today’s result, neither with the final position nor with the gap to the winner, but after the warm-up, which went really bad, I was very worried about the race. Instead I managed to do four or five laps at a good pace in the early stages and I was racing at a decent pace until the performance dropped off on the left side of the rear tyre. In the final stages however I had to reduce my pace because the bike was spinning under acceleration and I was no longer able to fight for ninth. Both at Assen and here in Germany there were two or three corners where I was losing too much time to the riders in the leading group and I hope that we will no longer have the same problems at the next tracks. We knew that these two races were going to be pretty complicated for us but, at least here at the Sachsenring, we’ve understand several things that will be useful at the next circuits, which are better for me.”
Danilo Petrucci – P12
“I am sorry about how things went today. If I have to be honest I had strange feelings already from the warm up lap. During the race I struggled to keep the bike running because every left turn seemed to be over the limit. They passed me on the straight, which never happens to me, unfortunately the rear tyre did not allow me to express myself. I am sorry for the team that did a great job, I am disappointed”.
Pol Espargaro – P13
“Honestly it was a great weekend as we did a good job in qualifying but really, the team did a superb job really from the start on Friday. The bike works so well from the beginning, but, for sure we are always able to do a little bit more and ultimately it was a shame that we couldn’t beat Petrucci as I was ahead of him for a bit. We must be happy with this weekend as without a tyre problem over the last few laps we are less than 30 seconds off the winner after 30 laps which is very good indeed for the project. We now move on for the test this week at Aragon where we can find some more things with the bike. This is just the beginning…”
Bradley Smith – P14
“After a disappointing Assen we’ve come back to something that we knew, tried and tested with a setting this morning that I felt happier with. In the race I struggled a little bit in the opening ten laps and that’s an area where I personally need to work on plus getting the bike to my kind of feeling, but then after that was when I really started to find my form. I’m pleased with the outcome as it was a proper race with eventually the third KTM only a short gap behind the points. In general, a great weekend for us and the whole KTM project as we’ve learnt an awful lot by having three riders out on track but the great thing is we’re going to go to Aragon now for a two day test with all of us there to continue the progress and keep the ball rolling. Overall I’m pleased with the outcome, putting right last week with a solid performance and finish before we head into part two of the season.”
Jack Miller – P15
“The front tyre was fine for the race distance but the rear was a different matter, it just didn’t work the way I expected it to after practice. The tyre was spinning on both sides from the start and three laps into the race it felt like it had already done the 30-lap race distance. And with so many left hand turns with 10 laps to go I was pretty much out of grip, it was a strange feeling. I was expecting a really strong race here so this is a disappointing result but I go to the summer break determined to return with a strong finish to the season.”
Mika Kallio – P16
“I enjoyed being back on the bike this weekend and I enjoyed racing again. I can say that even though I have been away from the races for a while, with only the Valencia race last November under my belt, it’s not so easy to handle the start situation, the first corners with everyone fighting but it went very well. When I saw that I could keep the position and then catch guys at the beginning, I felt really satisfied with the pace that we had. It’s a bit of a shame we couldn’t finish in the position where we should be as if you see the best lap time I did (12th) it is better than Valentino and better than Pol and better than Bradley. I believe that at least we could be in this higher group where Pol was were it not for the problem with the front end after the half way point of the race. It would have been great to finish there but…next time it’s better.”
Karel Abraham – P17
“I have mixed feelings after that rave because we set our best lap times of the weekend and had a really strong race, in my opinion, but unfortunately we only ended up with seventeenth place, which is not good. I started from P20 and struggled in the beginning, to be honest I think I need to be much more aggressive over the first few laps. So I lost some ground there and also at the end of the race I was struggling with the rest and it was spinning and sliding so much I couldn’t handle it and lost contact with Smith. However if you compare our lap times with the other Ducati our performance was quite good. So all in all it was a bittersweet race for us.”
Tito Rabat – P18
“It was strange because we tested the same tyre in FP3 and it worked fine but after four or five laps in the race it was completely finished and I had to be so careful opening the gas, it was dangerous and easy to crash. So I just tried to finish the race by changing the engine map, which helped a lot, but I was still forced to ride slower than I wanted to, it was strange. Now I am looking forward to a good summer break and coming back stronger in Brno.”
Loris Baz – P19
“I really don’t know what happened in the race. It was the same problem we had all weekend. The first laps were quite good, the feeling with the new tyres was perfect and I was able to overtake some riders and I was in an interesting group. But after ten laps, I lost all rear grip and the feeling was like riding with wet tyres. In just four turns, I was losing 1.5s and I was having big moments on every lap. I decided to calm down and try to finish the race, and in the final laps I still managed to do quite well in the righthand corners with some grip, but the problem is that here you only have three of them… This is not the result I was hoping for in this race, but I think that the first half of the season was quite good overall. I’m happy with the job we have done so far and now I will get surgery in my right arm to come back stronger for the second half of the championship.”
Scott Redding – P20
“It’s the worst race of my career. I am not able to understand what happened because the sensations were positive in the warm-up. Unfortunately I did not find the right feeling in order to be competitive. It’s a really hard Sunday for me. I want to go to Brno in order to make an important race and to give the maximum”.
Alex Rins – P21
“The result is not a good one, but we can take away some positive things from this race. In the first part I maintained a good position and my pace was pretty consistent. Then unfortunately I ran off the track losing a lot of time, and then the drop of the rear grip didn’t give us a chance to catch up, since I couldn’t follow the lines I would have liked. To me this was one more race to learn from. On the positive side, in dry conditions in practice I was able make considerable progress. In these two races I was feeling ok with the hand, but I can’t say I was at 100%, so I will take advantage of this one month break to train well and get prepared for the race in the Czech Republic.”
Hector Barbera – Disqualified
“I went to Race Direction to watch the images, because I was convinced that I didn’t jump the start. And I was right, the problem is that at this track the start is uphill and I moved the bike with the red lights on, and that is why they have penalised me. In the first laps I was fighting in a big group and I couldn’t see the messages on my dashboard and also the pit boards for Ride Through, so I was black-flagged. It is a shame because today I had good feeling with the bike and I think that it was possible to gain some positions and score some good points. But when things are not going well, everything gets tough. We have to keep optimistic, because we have one month to train hard and change this situation in the second part of the season.”
Andrea Iannone – DNF
“I’m very happy about this race – of course not for the result, but because of the progress that we’ve made. We took an important step forward during the weekend. I got my confidence back. I have a better feel for the bike and finally I can push it more or less as I want.” We started from behind in the grid and that affected the whole race. Apart from that, the first three laps I struggled with rear grip, but then I managed to keep pace with the second group. I tried to push hard to recover, but I crashed. However, until that point my times were good as was my satisfaction with the bike.”
Sam Lowes – DNF
“A small mistake cost me the race today. It’s a pity because I had overtaken a few riders and I was making up ground. My pace was good even compared with that of Aleix who really did an outstanding job today. The improvements are there. I am starting to ride well and the signs are encouraging. The summer break arrived at the right time. I know that I can still improve a lot and I feel positive about the second half of the season.”
Ken Kawauchi – Suzuki Technical Manager
“I’m very sorry for today’s result, because during this weekend we were able to take some positive steps that made us hopeful of a better end to the race. With Andrea, we took one more step with the setup that gave him a consistent lap time until the middle of the race. It wasn’t bad at all and not so far off the top six, but unfortunately he had a crash. We will look into the data and prepare for the restart in Brno. Alex had a positive weekend as he was able to learn a lot. The conditions were difficult and he made some little mistakes due to his inexperience. He still needs to spend as much time as much as possible on the GSX-RR, this is why we stay positive and continue with his gradual development.”
Davide Brivio – Suzuki Team Manager
“Despite Andrea’s crash, I think this weekend has been more positive than what the final result suggests. We had to start from behind and we suffered in yesterday’s weather. Andrea had a good pace; he was able to push the bike and lapped with the same time as the riders that were far ahead of him. To maintain this level of performance he had to push to the limit and this is why he crashed. Until that moment his race was positive, and it is something that can happen. Alex struggled with tyre management. When their performance lowered, the bike started to slide and he couldn’t maintain the pace. At the beginning of the race he had a good start and recovered many positions. His pace was fast, but then he had to give up pushing too hard. He had pretty a tough comeback as he found himself in two very complicated weekends, in Assen and here, with mixed weather that required him to learn quickly to manage the situations. He did very well and we took important steps in his apprentice process. Now we will seize the opportunity during summer brake to let our minds calm down and re-analyse data from different perspectives, in order to comeback in Brno hopefully more competitive and effective.”
Massimo Meregalli – Yamaha Team Manager
“We knew that today‘s race at the Sachsenring was going to be a tough one, but we were up for the challenge. Though the skies were again looking threatening at the start of the race, we were fairly certain it was going to be a dry race, which were the conditions our riders preferred for today‘s 30-lap dash. Our target was to take as many points as possible and both riders stuck to their goals. Maverick and Vale both rode a good race, and went all out to secure important points for the championship, because the standings are very close. Maverick did a good job, especially in the second half of the race as he cut through the field from eleventh to fourth place. Valentino started the race really well but, by the time he was in fourth place, unfortunately the front three riders were already too far ahead. He did everything he could to defend his position from multiple chasing riders for as long as he could and took solid points in the end. The first half of the season has been very exciting, with close battles, involving many riders and manufacturers. With hard work from the team and the riders, we‘ve so far scored four wins and eight podium places. Now we look forward to the summer break. Over the next four weeks we will recharge our batteries before we continue the championship fight in the Czech Republic.”
Romano Albesiano – Aprilia Racing Manager
“A nice race for Aleix. He was a contender on equal ground with bikes and riders who are battling for the championship. We are truly very close to staying with the leaders. We were among the best throughout the weekend and that is extremely positive, especially in the dry. If it had not rained on Saturday, Aleix would have been able to start even farther forward on the grid and that would have helped him to stress the front tyre less while battling in the early laps, but we are truly pleased with how things went. Some important technical innovations will arrive now so that we can continue growing and going beyond this good level that our project has reached.”
Fausto Gresini – Aprilia Team Manager
“We were with the riders who are battling for the title for the entire race. This is a fantastic result that demonstrates the level of competitiveness we have reached. Now we are truly close to making a consistent play for the top positions. At mid-season our result is decidedly positive and we will continue to grow. Credit goes to Aleix, Aprilia who is working very well and the entire team that has skilfully managed the RS-GP.”
Mike Leitner – KTM Team Manager
“The weekend was amazing for the project, for KTM, for all three riders. We always had some highlights through all of the sessions for one of the three riders and in the end in the race, points for Pol after having a full on battle that was very important for him. He nearly got 12th back at the line after being in 12th with a few laps remaining. With Bradley he was fighting with Miller and came 14th. We know this isn’t an easy place (MotoGP) but the guys here in the garage and at our HQ in Austria are working so hard behind the scenes. They are pushing all the time and it’s so motivating to have this team behind this project 100%. This was the closest result for the lead KTM in terms of time since we started in Qatar as we were just over a second a lap back of the winner. This not only positive but what the riders are looking at because it looks like we can come a little closer. We know we have to work hard but we must always be reminded we are in our rookie season and the long term target is obviously higher than ‘just points’ so this is a very good sign. Mika was super this weekend as he did a great job. Unfortunately in the race he had an issue with the front tyre but after not racing for a while he did very well in the group he was in. What we saw from him in the dry warm up was quick stuff. He was always fast proving he is a good test rider for us so…he’s still a racer and this is superb to see.”
Michael Bartholemy – MarcVDS Team Principal
“This was a really disappointing race for both Jack and Tito considering the pace they showed in practice in similar conditions. They were capable of challenging for much better positions. The problem for both riders was that after three to five laps there was no rear grip and it was impossible to keep the pace of riders they could have been in front of. This made the final race day before the summer break quite difficult for us.”
Piero Taramasso – Michelin Motorsport Two-Wheel Manager
“We did not know what to expect as we headed to Germany and the new surface. We brought what we thought were the correct compounds and were totally correct with our selection. With the changing weather and different temperatures, almost every tyre was tried during the practice sessions and we had some very fast times in the wet and the dry. The new asphalt has a lot of grip and the compounds we brought all worked very well. This was underlined in the race as had soft and medium front slicks were used along with soft, medium and hard rears and they all worked well. We were especially pleased with the wear considering how abrasive the new surface was and we saw no drop-off in lap-times, in fact Marc (Marquez) set his fastest time on lap-28 of 30. We also had a new fastest lap in the race and a race duration record, so we are very pleased with how the whole weekend has been. We will now go into the mid-season break and work on the data from the first nine races and continue our quest to keep producing the best tyres for all the riders.”
MotoGP 2017 – Round Nine – Sachsenring Race Results
- MARQUEZ Marc SPA Repsol Honda Team 40’59.525
- FOLGER Jonas GER Monster Yamaha Tech 3 3.310
- PEDROSA Dani SPA Repsol Honda Team 11.546
- VINALES Maverick SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 14.253
- ROSSI Valentino ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 14.980
- BAUTISTA Alvaro SPA Pull&Bear Aspar Team 16.534
- ESPARGARO Aleix SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 19.736
- DOVIZIOSO Andrea ITA Ducati Team 20.188
- ZARCO Johann FRA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 21.138
- CRUTCHLOW Cal GBR LCR Honda 24.210
- LORENZO Jorge SPA Ducati Team 25.659
- PETRUCCI Danilo ITA Octo Pramac Racing 31.540
- ESPARGARO Pol SPA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 32.179
- SMITH Bradley GBR Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 36.453
- MILLER Jack AUS Team EG 0,0 Marc VDS 37.771
- KALLIO Mika FIN Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 37.852
- ABRAHAM Karel CZE Pull&Bear Aspar Team 39.323
- RABAT Tito SPA Team EG 0,0 Marc VDS 41.190
- BAZ Loris FRA Reale Avintia Racing 59.850
- REDDING Scott GBR Octo Pramac Racing 1’01.664
- RINS Alex SPA Team Suzuki Ecstar 1’01.695
- IANNONE Andrea ITA Team Suzuki Ecstar 6 laps
- LOWES Sam GBR Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 18 laps
- BARBERA Hector SPA Reale Avintia Racing
1. MARQUEZ Marc SPA Repsol Honda Team 40’59.525
2. FOLGER Jonas GER Monster Yamaha Tech 3 3.310
3. PEDROSA Dani SPA Repsol Honda Team 11.546
MotoGP 2017 – Round Nine – Sachsenring Championship Points Standings
- Marc MARQUEZ Honda SPA 129
- Maverick VIÑALES Yamaha SPA 124
- Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati ITA 123
- Valentino ROSSI Yamaha ITA 119
- Dani PEDROSA Honda SPA 103
- Johann ZARCO Yamaha FRA 84
- Jonas FOLGER Yamaha GER 71
- Danilo PETRUCCI Ducati ITA 66
- Jorge LORENZO Ducati SPA 65
- Cal CRUTCHLOW Honda GBR 64
- Alvaro BAUTISTA Ducati SPA 44
- Jack MILLER Honda AUS 41
- Scott REDDING Ducati GBR 33
- Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia SPA 32
- Loris BAZ Ducati FRA 31
- Andrea IANNONE Suzuki ITA 28
- Tito RABAT Honda SPA 23
- Hector BARBERA Ducati SPA 21
- Karel ABRAHAM Ducati CZE 20
- Pol ESPARGARO KTM SPA 14
- Bradley SMITH KTM GBR 8
- Alex RINS Suzuki SPA 7
- Michele PIRRO Ducati ITA 7
- Sam LOWES Aprilia GBR 2
- Sylvain GUINTOLI Suzuki FRA 1
