Pedrosa victorious with new lap record on harder slicks

Championship leader Casey Stoner celebrated a seventh successive podium finish today, a personal record in MotoGP class. He led the race for nine laps but was unable to match the pace of Pedrosa and was robbed of second place at the very last corner by Jorge Lorenzo.

Andrea Dovizioso had an exciting duel with Marco Simoncelli, finally finishing ahead of him in fourth and retaining his third position in the Championship standings.

The Repsol Honda Team will have no time to rest, as they pack all the race equipment tonight and leave for the United States tomorrow. The U.S GP hosted at the fascinating circuit of Laguna Seca will take place next Sunday, July 24th.

Dani Pedrosa:

“It’s an incredible feeling to be back and win a race so early; I didn’t expect it, but this circuit has been always very good for me and I made it happen. I was already surprised yesterday with second position in qualifying and to finish the weekend in this way is amazing, a huge relief for me after a very hard time with injuries.

Here I suffered less than in Mugello because of the layout, but in the race today I had a strange feeling, something I’ve never had before. At the beginning of the race I wasn’t feeling great on the bike, I was fourth but I didn’t get nervous or worried because I’m still not mathematically out of the Championship battle, but I know it’s almost impossible.

So, I just let the laps pass and in the middle of the race, with less fuel in the tank and when the tyres started sliding, I decided to step it up a little and it worked perfectly. I’m very happy with this victory, I’ve been suffering a lot even though this race track is not physically demanding, because I’m still weak. So a big thanks to my family and doctors that helped me to be back here because they all know how hard it has been. Also to my team and to all my fans that never gave up, they deserve it also.”

Casey Stoner:

“We knew today would be a hard race, we found a good set up yesterday in qualifying but we had an issue with the rear tyre and the temperatures getting too high, with it spinning too much. We took it easy in the early part of the race and thought we’d try to preserve the tyre and warm it up slower than we did in Mugello.

After a few laps I decided to make a move to the front to see what we could do and we were able to pull a small advantage, but too small compared to the effort we were putting in so I backed off on my pace a little and tried to stay as smooth as possible and see what happens. They came past me and Dani was riding so strong and was able to get past Jorge before I got there, he built a small advantage and by the time I got past Jorge and I struggled to chase him down.

I made a few small mistakes and that left just Jorge and I for the last few laps. I tried everything I could, riding the cleanest lap possible and trying to block my line, but Jorge came up on the dirty part of the track and I thought it would be too high a risk but he made it stick and I have to settle for third place. I’m still leading the Championship and I’m thankful for the points here today.”

Andrea Dovizioso:

“It was a tough race because this circuit is small and difficult. Our target was the podium so I’m a little disappointed with fourth position, but if we look at today’s race in a bigger perspective, we took a big step forward in terms of race pace compared to my previous records at this circuit.
We had a good start and tried to stay with the front riders. It was a good battle with Simoncelli and Spies for fourth position and I’m happy we won this battle! We were consistently fast during the whole weekend and even though today we were struggling, we finished fourth. We confirm that we are there and we have retained third position in the Championship, even if we aimed to gain more points on Lorenzo and Casey. My congratulations go to Dani, Casey and Jorge for a great race.”

result:

source: motogp.com 

More points for Mahindra in German GP

The Indian-owned Mahindra team added to its growing tally of World Championship points in a difficult German GP, with both riders overcoming problems to get to the finish of the first race of the day at the challenging 3.671-km Sachsenring circuit.

The one to score was Danny Webb (20). The English rider was forced to dig deep, when pain from the shoulder he fractured two weeks ago in Italy gave him increasingly severe difficulties as the 27 laps wore on. He finished 14th, gaining two points for his pains.

Team-mate Marcel Schrötter (18, from Germany) finished a frustrating 16th, one place out of the points, after a bad start put him near the back, and a lack of engine revs meant it took all his efforts to climb back towards the front. He had qualified 13th, but finished the first lap 27th after getting off the line badly.

The Mahindra is the only machine on the 36-strong grid with both engine and chassis built by the team.

The 125 class now has a break of four weekends, with only the premier MotoGP class attending next week’s US GP. For the riders, it will be a welcome break: for the Italy-based Engines Engineering, a chance to do further development to their exclusive disc-valve engine.

The next race is at Brno in the Czech Republic on August 14.

DANNY WEBB – 14th Position

“I got lucky, gaining places on the last lap when two guys crashed ahead of me – but it’s the first time I’ve had that luck all year. It was a tough race. Halfway through, my shoulder starting hurting badly. That meant I was putting more pressure on my left leg to compensate, and a muscle in my thigh pumped up and I had bad cramp. I struggled to carry on, not wanting to push too hard and maybe crash again and injure my shoulder worse. Now I’m here, in the points, and the results are in black and white. I’ll take it.”

MARCEL SCHRÖTTER – 16th Position

“I got a really bad start, but that was not the real problem. I had quite a good feeling with the bike, and I was able to move forward … but I could have gone faster. For some reason the engine wouldn’t rev past 11,000 – it should be 12,500 rpm or more. It meant I lost a lot of power, and it was really difficult to pass anybody. Looking at the top ten times, I am sure I could have been there.”

source: mahindraracing.com