MotoGP 2009 – Round Nine – Sachsenring
— By, Trevor Hedge
Valentino Rossi scorched off the line and immediately started to break away at Sachsenring. Dani Pedrosa, Randy De Puniet, Casey Stoner and Alex De Angelis were also quick starters but De Puniet’s race ended in the gravel only a few turns later after he lost the front and slid out of the race. De Puniet went down immediately in front of Casey Stoner and the Ducati man was lucky to escape the incident.
While Pedrosa and Stoner gave chase to Rossi a great battle was being fought over fourth place between Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo while Alex De Angelis tried valiantly to stay in touch with the leading group as the race wore on. Lorenzo was perhaps slowed a little by the battle as once past Dovizioso he started clawing back the gap to the leading trio who had markedly closed up.
With 26 laps to run Stoner put a strong but fair move on Pedrosa that saw the Spaniard have no choice but to relent his position to the Australian. That momentary scuffle gave Rossi a few bike lengths but Stoner was all over the tail of Rossi’s Yamaha only a few turns later. The Ducati slithering and sliding underneath Stoner while Rossi and the Yamaha looked like they were cruising.
Nicky Hayden had been in his best form since joining Ducati throughout the practice and qualifying sessions but his fourth place on the grid didn’t help him at Sachsenring as he was pushed wide on the entry into turn one and relegated to the rear of the field. Hayden was newly reinspired by his new found speed on the Ducati however and was clearly determined to regain as many positions as possible, by lap two the American was back up to ninth.
Stoner took the lead with 24 laps to run and clearly had the bit between his teeth, the Desmosedici wriggling and writhing beneath him in protest. Jorge Lorenzo joined the party after managing to shake Dovizioso. With 22 laps to run Lorenzo made his move on Pedrosa to take third place and was the fastest man on the circuit. The next target in his sights was Rossi who was maintaining the pressure on race leader Casey Stoner.
A few laps later Rossi also had Lorenzo to deal with for the first time in the race and the leading trio had been steadily pulling away from Pedrosa. Rossi responded to Lorenzo’s pressure by redoubling his efforts to try and take the lead in order to put Stoner between himself and his young teammate. Stoner was having none of it however and managed to hold out the Italian for longer than Rossi would have preferred.
The shenanigans up front allowed Pedrosa to close on the leading trio once again. With 14 laps to run only 3-tenths separated the leading trio with Pedrosa only half a second further behind after putting in his fastest lap of the race.
Rossi took Stoner half a lap later, a move that Lorenzo repeated a few turns later to make it a now very familiar Yamaha 1-2. Some internal tensions had been developing in the Yamaha squad with talk that Lorenzo may leave the dominant team to take number one status at Honda, while Repsol and Pedrosa were rumoured to be talking with Yamaha with a view to season 2010. Clearly Lorenzo would have liked nothing better than to put one over Rossi at what is a tense time in his contractual negotiations.
With nine laps to run Casey Stoner upped the wick further with a new fastest lap of the race as the Ducati man fought hard to get back on terms with the Yamaha duo. Immediately afterwards however Stoner made a small mistake which stretched the gap out to nearly a full second once again.
Lorenzo was all over Rossi with seven laps to run, showing his Italian teammate a wheel at every opportunity. Rossi was proving as unflappable as ever though and if Lorenzo was going to take the lead he was going to have to make a forceful move. Stoner and Pedrosa however then started to both lap marginally quicker than the leading duo to set up a thrilling final five laps.
Pedrosa got the better of Stoner to take third place just as Lorenzo took the lead from Rossi. This amazing quartet of riders putting on a brilliant show for the German crowd.
Stoner then ran very wide and lost a lot of time which rendered his podium challenge out of the question.
With four laps to run it was going to be two Yamaha men and a Honda man on the podium, the battle however for who stood on what step of the rostrum was far from over.
Rossi took the lead at turn one with two laps to run after putting in his best lap of the race.
As they crossed the stripe a lap later to start the final lap of the race Lorenzo challenged Rossi but the Italian had him covered in turn one and the Spaniard ran a little wide.
Lorenzo recovered immediately and was riding extremely hard to stick right on Rossi’s tailpipe throughout the final lap.
Rossi and Lorenzo came onto the main straight almost side by side after both setting their fastest laps of the race on their final trip around the Sachsenring circuit. But it was Rossi who had his nose ahead at the line to claim victory by less than a tenth of a second.
Pedrosa could not compete on equal terms with the Yamaha men and had to settle for third place while Stoner cruised home a distant fourth.
Rossi’s win increased his podium tally to 159 which awarded him yet another record by equalling Giacomo Agostini’s all time record of podium finishes in Grand Prix racing.
Dani Pedrosa also made his mark in the all time statistics by becoming the eighth rider to pass the milestone of 2000 career point in Grand Prix racing.
The battle will recommence next weekend at Donington Park with Rossi enjoying a 14 point lead of Lorenzo, with Lorenzo in turn holding a 14 point buffer over Stoner.
| MotoGP Rnd 9 – Race Result | MotoGP Rnd 9 – Championship Standings |
— Day One Results / Reports |
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| — MotoGP Quotes 1st, Valentino Rossi – “I think this was a great race for everyone because there were all four leading riders of the championship, fighting very closely and all in strong form. We knew that they would all be tough to beat today so I am very pleased about this win, I rode very well and my team worked brilliantly all weekend to find the right setting. I had a very good start today, a great battle with Stoner early on and then after half race distance I was a little faster and really able to push at the maximum, which was great fun. At the end it came down to another incredible battle with Lorenzo and I really had to be on top form, especially because he passed me when I wasn’t expecting it. Luckily I was able to take him back and then I rode a perfect final lap with no mistakes. Everything worked well today, my M1 and my Bridgestone tyres, so thanks and well done to everyone. This is my fourth win of the year and I really think that our Yamaha is a fantastic bike this season. I think races like this are great for the sport. Now we have a small advantage in the championship and we’re going straight to Donington, one of my favourite tracks where I really hope I can win after a few bad years without a victory!” 2nd, Jorge Lorenzo – “Today was a very hard race because this track is slow and twisty and you have to use all the strength in your body to ride at the maximum. Keeping pace with Valentino today was a big challenge for me, especially since I’m not at full fitness after Laguna, so I am happy that I was able to push him until the end. Passing him was very difficult because he braked hard and late every time, and in fact I made a bit of a mistake because I thought there were a few more laps left when I passed him! I hoped to overtake him and then try to pull away but it didn’t work out today. Of course I’m disappointed to lose another very close race, it is always sad but I know that we are capable of fighting with him and considering his experience this is something I must be proud of. Second is important today and we still have a long way to go in this championship.” 3rd, Dani Pedrosa – “I’m pleased to be on the podium, and finishing this close to the leaders proves that our win at the last race wasn’t by chance. I made a very good start and in the first few laps I was comfortable behind Valentino. On about lap six or seven though I had a big moment in the last corner and almost crashed, so after that I slowed down a little and dropped back to fourth. With a slightly slower pace I felt the feedback coming back and towards the end of the race I was able to push hard again. I got past Casey and tried to catch the leaders but by this time I was a bit too far behind. Third place is a good result, but we were ready to fight for the win at this circuit so it looks like we still have a little bit of work to do. The team is in good shape though and we’re making progress all the time, so I’m confident we can continue to challenge for better results and preferably for wins. Donington is next and I’m looking forward to it. Let’s hope we can have an even better race there.” 4th, Casey Stoner – “I wasn’t too confident at the start of the race because we were losing ground and my feeling with the bike wasn’t great but it quickly improved so we decided to hit the front as soon as possible – if nothing else just to hold everybody up and stay in there with a shout. I started to lose the front end a few times so I decided to back off a bit. That allowed Valentino, Jorge and Dani to come past but then, as the fuel load lightened, the front fell more secure and I was able to pick up the pace again. Dani came up with an unbelievable lap that was about half a second quicker than any of his others. After he passed me I tried to push and stay with him but I actually lost the rear at the bottom of the hill and had to let off the brakes, which almost forced me to run into the gravel. All in all with the way things have been going lately I’m happy with today’s race because it’s the first time in a while I feel I’ve been really involved and I think if it wasn’t for that problem with the rear I may have been able to dig deep and given Valentino Jorge and Dani something to think about at the end. I’m excited about going to Donington now and I want to thank the team for sticking by me over the last few weeks because it hasn’t been fun for any of them.” 5th, Alex De Angelis – “After showing my pace in the wet during qualifying yesterday I knew I could go fast in the dry as well and that proved to be the case. Obviously this is a circuit I like a lot but I was also fast in practice at Laguna Seca – unfortunately we had a technical problem there and I wasn’t able to back it up with a good result. This time it was nice to carry my form through to Sunday and to stay close to the guys at the front for the first time this season. I really enjoyed attacking and passing (Andrea) Dovizioso, it was a great feeling. This is the result we have been looking for – we have made some important technical progress and I think that at Donington, a circuit I like with its fast corners, I can produce a similar result.” 6th, Toni Elias – “To be honest I was expecting a battle just to finish in the top ten today but it ended up being much better than I could have imagined! It was a tough race and physically I still wasn’t feeling very strong but I managed to get into my rhythm and start passing riders. Once I caught up with Marco I found it difficult to get past him and my stomach pains started. I thought, ‘please no, not now!’ I fought through the pain and over the last few laps we had a great battle, which I was able to win. I want to thank the team because they’ve been doing a great job and we are starting to see the fruit of our hard work. If we hadn’t started from the back of the grid the result today could have been much better so that is something for us to think about for Donington, where we can go in high spirits.” 7th, Marco Melandri – TBC 8th, Nicky Hayden – “I knew I needed to get a good start if I was going to do anything special today but I got into turn one hot and everybody came underneath me. To be honest after my crash in warm-up I started the race a little uptight because I didn’t want to wreck another bike or throw away everything we have gained and learned this weekend. It wasn’t the race we were looking for so I’m sorry to the team because the bike was capable of more here, I’ve just made a couple of mistakes this weekend. I don’t want to apologise for trying too hard though because I knew I could do good here. It is hard to be patient when you have a sniff of the front and instead of taking things step by step like we have up to now I pushed my luck and we’ve paid the price. So I’m disappointed with the race but not with the weekend on the whole because we’re up and running now and moving forward.” 9th, Colin Edwards – TBC 10th, James Toseland – TBC 11th, Loris Capirossi – ” We had a couple of issues during the warm-up today and when we saw that the weather was likely to be a bit better this afternoon we decided to use a harder compound tyre. Unfortunately we never had a chance to test this tyre during the practice and it was difficult to get the rubber up to temperature. This was one of the reasons that I struggled during the race, but there was also something else that wasn’t quite right and we need to understand why we did so badly here. This weekend has now finished and we could do with doing some work on this track to see where we are going wrong, but that is not possible. This is not good enough for us and we don’t want to be performing like this and we need as much help as we can get to improve things. The whole crew did a great job last night to rebuild the bike after I destroyed it yesterday, and my condition from that crash is not great but the biggest problem I had today was lack of feeling. I wasn’t able to turn as well as I wanted and this is a problem for me. I really hope that we can find some solutions and analyse the data from today and try and do our best at Donington next week.” 12th, Niccolo Canepa – TBC 13th, Chris Vermeulen – “It has been a difficult weekend, especially after I didn’t get off to the best of starts by crashing in the first practice session. I gave my body a really hard time this weekend and because of the crash – and my condition – we lost some track-time and important set-up time. The team did give me a decent bike today, even with the lack of information that we had. I got a good start to the race and I had reasonable speed in the first couple of laps, but I struggled for braking performance and a lot of guys went past me. Then I ran off after I made a mistake and went wide in turn one and that cost me a lot of time. After that is was a pretty boring race and I was just trying to catch Canepa in front of me, but I just didn’t quite have the speed to do that. I did get Kallio on the last lap though and managed to get some points from not a good weekend. Hopefully I can get fitter over the next few days and push hard at Donington.” 14th, Mika Kallio – TBC 15th, Gabor Talmacsi – “I got my first point in MotoGP today and I’m happy about that. It is something that will stay in my record. Nevertheless, we want to progress more. Maybe I overrode today because I had some problems with the front tyre and from a certain moment on I could not keep in contact with my group. So I tried to find a good rhythm and go as fast as I could. But I’m confident: we all have the same target: to fight for good positions. We have simply to work hard.” DNF – Andrea Dovizioso – “We needed a strong result here and at the start of the race I was able to ride at a really good pace. I made a quick start from the fourth row and got past six riders on the first lap – then I was able to get past Lorenzo for fourth on the third lap. On that lap I did a 1m 22.7s but then, during the fourth lap, the front folded at turn eight and I ran wide. Within a few laps after this the performance from the front had dropped dramatically. It meant I couldn’t lean the bike or brake as normal so it was very difficult to control the bike. From then on my target was to finish the race but with five laps to go I had an electrical issue with the machine and I had to pull in. Obviously I’m really disappointed with the result because I was feeling fast here and I had a very good feeling from the bike. We really had the potential for a good result here, which is what we need at this moment. Still, now we’ll go to Donington next weekend and aim for the level of result we’re capable of.” DNF – Randy De Puniet – “I am very disappointed because I took a good start and was in third position behind Pedrosa. After that I made a mistake in the fast right corner because I opened the throttle too early and suffered a big highside. Anyway, I feel lucky as I escaped injury from the crash but a DNF is bad for me and the team, especially for the championship. Today we could have finished in the top five because we had the speed to make an amazing race. However, I am still tenth overall and we will start again from zero at Donington on Friday.” — Bridgestone Report – Bridgestone compounds available: Front: Slicks – Hard, Extra hard Wets – Hard Rear: Slicks – Hard, Extra hard (asymmetric) Wets – Hard Fiat Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi took his fourth victory of the season using Bridgestone’s hard slicks this afternoon, finishing just 0.099seconds ahead of teammate Jorge Lorenzo, who used the same front tyre but an extra hard compound rear slick. As the two pushed each other to the finish in another nail-biting race, they both set their fastest laps on the last lap, demonstrating the consistency and durability of the Bridgestone slicks. Their fastest laptimes were eclipsed by Dani Pedrosa however, who set a new circuit lap record five laps from the finish on his way to third position. The Repsol Honda rider opted for the same hard compound front and extra hard compound rear slick tyre combination as Lorenzo. A rain shower before the race ensured that teams had their wet Bridgestone tyres at the ready, and even though the rainclouds continued to threaten the conditions remained dry. The softer option front tyre was used by all riders except Ducati Team’s Casey Stoner, but rear tyre choices were much more varied. Ten riders opted for the hard compound rear slicks, whilst seven favoured the extra hard compound. Sachsenring has always been very demanding of tyres, the long series of fast lefts really testing the shoulder grip of both the front slicks and the asymmetric rears. Using Bridgestone tyres for the first time at this circuit, Pedrosa beat his previous race lap record, set in 2007, by almost one second, showing that the Bridgestone slicks performed well today. Hiroshi Yamada – Bridgestone Motorsport – Manager Motorcycle Sport Unit Tohru Ubukata – Bridgestone Motorsport – Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development — 250cc Race Marco Simoncelli kept his title challenge alive with a win in the 250cc contest, his second victory of his World Championship defense. As in 2008, the Metis Gilera rider broke free from the pack in the early going. This time, however, he had Álex Debón along for the ride. Simoncelli couldn’t shake the Spanish veteran despite his best attempts, although he had enough breathing space to prevent any overtaking moves. Debón held on to second place, his first rostrum of the 2009 season, whilst behind him a fierce battle developed for the final podium spot. Álvaro Bautista took the trailing group up to his countryman on the final lap, but was unsuccessful in making a move on Debón despite putting in a circuit record lap. He did, however, get past title rival and series leader Hiroshi Aoyama to cut the gap in the standings to ten points. The race had been restarted after an initial lap when rain fell on the Sachsenring, but during the wait between starts the track was deemed to have dried sufficiently for the majority of riders to change back to slick tyres. |
| 250cc – Race Result | 250cc – Championship Standings |
| 1 / Marco SIMONCELLI / ITA / Metis Gilera / GILERA / 27’11.034 / 153.949 / 2 / Alex DEBON / SPA / Aeropuerto-Castello-Blusens / APRILIA / 27’11.513 / 153.904 / 0.479 3 / Alvaro BAUTISTA / SPA / Mapfre Aspar Team / APRILIA / 27’11.562 / 153.899 / 0.528 4 / Hiroshi AOYAMA / JPN / Scot Racing Team 250cc / HONDA / 27’11.900 / 153.867 / 0.866 5 / Hector BARBERA / SPA / Pepe World Team / APRILIA / 27’12.294 / 153.830 / 1.260 6 / Hector FAUBEL / SPA / Honda SAG / HONDA / 27’17.006 / 153.387 / 5.972 7 / Aleix ESPARGARO / SPA / Balatonring Team / APRILIA / 27’19.755 / 153.130 / 8.721 8 / Thomas LUTHI / SWI / Emmi – Caffe Latte / APRILIA / 27’19.796 / 153.126 / 8.762 9 / Raffaele DE ROSA / ITA / Scot Racing Team 250cc / HONDA / 27’30.210 / 152.160 / 19.176 10 / Roberto LOCATELLI / ITA / Metis Gilera / GILERA / 27’38.984 / 151.355 / 27.950 11 / Alex BALDOLINI / ITA / WTR San Marino Team / APRILIA / 27’40.635 / 151.205 / 29.601 12 / Lukas PESEK / CZE / Auto Kelly – CP / APRILIA / 27’49.333 / 150.417 / 38.299 13 / Shoya TOMIZAWA / JPN / CIP Moto – GP250 / HONDA / 28’02.974 / 149.198 / 51.940 14 / Jules CLUZEL / FRA / Matteoni Racing / APRILIA / 28’03.953 / 149.111 / 52.919 15 / Bastien CHESAUX / SWI / Racing Team Germany / HONDA / 28’17.820 / 147.893 / 1’06.786 | 1 AOYAMA 134, 2 BAUTISTA 124, 3 BARBERA 106, 4 SIMONCELLI 102, 5 PASINI 64, 6 DEBON 63, 7 LUTHI 60, 8 FAUBEL 59, 9 DE ROSA 58, 10 LOCATELLI 53, 11 WILAIROT 38, 12 PESEK 36, 13 CLUZEL 35, 14 DI MEGLIO 32, 15 ABRAHAM 31. |
| — 125cc Race Julián Simón extended his lead at the head of the 125cc World Championship classification, meanwhile, with a runaway win. The Bancaja Aspar rider had been the standout rider in every wet practice session for the German date, but proved equally adept in the dry on race day for a second triumph of 2009. An all-Spanish podium saw Simón’s teammate Sergio Gadea extend his podium run to three races with second place, also allowing him to become the closest rival for Simón in the overall standings. Belson Derbi’s Joan Olivé completed the podium with his first rostrum of the season, following the battle of the race between himself, fourth placed Nico Terol and Marc Maquez. A clash of fairings between Olivé and Marquez led to the latter taking a huge highside on the final lap. |
| 125cc – Race Result | 125cc – Championship Standings |
| 1 / Julian SIMON / SPA / Bancaja Aspar Team 125cc / APRILIA / 39’57.337 / 148.840 / 2 / Sergio GADEA / SPA / Bancaja Aspar Team 125cc / APRILIA / 40’06.752 / 148.258 / 9.415 3 / Joan OLIVE / SPA / Derbi Racing Team / DERBI / 40’14.896 / 147.758 / 17.559 4 / Nicolas TEROL / SPA / Jack & Jones Team / APRILIA / 40’14.924 / 147.756 / 17.587 5 / Pol ESPARGARO / SPA / Derbi Racing Team / DERBI / 40’17.077 / 147.625 / 19.740 6 / Sandro CORTESE / GER / Ajo Interwetten / DERBI / 40’18.115 / 147.561 / 20.778 7 / Andrea IANNONE / ITA / Ongetta Team I.S.P.A. / APRILIA / 40’18.245 / 147.553 / 20.908 8 / Danny WEBB / GBR / Degraaf Grand Prix / APRILIA / 40’35.558 / 146.504 / 38.221 9 / Dominique AEGERTER / SWI / Ajo Interwetten / DERBI / 40’35.771 / 146.492 / 38.434 10 / Tomoyoshi KOYAMA / JPN / Loncin Racing / LONCIN / 40’37.422 / 146.392 / 40.085 11 / Randy KRUMMENACHE / SWI / Degraaf Grand Prix / APRILIA / 40’41.464 / 146.150 / 44.127 12 / Marcel SCHROTTER / GER / Toni – Mang Team / HONDA / 40’42.388 / 146.095 / 45.051 13 / Luis SALOM / SPA / Jack & Jones Team / APRILIA / 40’56.941 / 145.229 / 59.604 14 / Cameron BEAUBIER / USA / Red Bull KTM Moto Sport / KTM / 41’15.494 / 144.141 / 1’18.157 15 / Daniel KARTHEININGER / GER / Freudenberg Racing Team / HONDA / 41’18.162 / 143.986 / 1’20.825 — Day One Results / Reports | 1 SIMON 129, 2 GADEA 104, 3 SMITH 98.5, 4 IANNONE 93.5, 5 TEROL 81.5, 6 ESPARGARO 62.5, 7 MARQUEZ 55, 8 CORTESE 55, 9 FOLGER 54, 10 BRADL 44, 11 OLIVE 37, 12 AEGERTER 36.5, 13 REDDING 28.5, 14 WEBB 24.5, 15 VAZQUEZ 23. |
