SETUP REPORT - 07/07/2008

Fiat Yamaha Team face final push before summer break

The Fiat Yamaha Team faces the first half of a transatlantic double-header this weekend as the MotoGP World Championship heads to Germany for the tenth round of the season, followed immediately by a trip to the USA for round eleven. The two races are separated by just seven days and a distance of some 9,400 kilometres, representing a gruelling final push before the four-week summer break.

The Sachsenring circuit traditionally produces close racing and Valentino Rossi has unsurprisingly been involved over recent years, starring in some of the most exciting MotoGP race finishes of all time. The most memorable was in 2006, when the Italian stormed from eleventh on the grid on his Yamaha to lead home the closest top-four ever in MotoGP, separated as they were by just 0.307 seconds. Rossi, who is set to break Max Biaggi's record of 201 consecutive Grand Prix appearances this weekend, has had three other victories at Sachsenring in all classes and he is keen to add to that tally as the season crosses its midseason equator with Dani Pedrosa on the top of the standings - just four points clear of the Italian.

Rossi took time out of his training schedule last weekend to visit Misano for Yamaha Fest, where he was joined for the first time by his Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo. After recovering his confidence with two sixth place finishes in the last two rounds, the 21-year-old Mallorcan is relaxed and ready to re-ignite his challenge for the top positions at a circuit where he has only once previously made the podium, in the 250cc race in 2006.

Located in the heartland of the former East Germany's once glorious motorcycle racing industry, the Sachsenring is built right next to the old road course, a characteristic the track shares with Brno in the nearby Czech Republic. The second shortest track on the calendar features a series of tight and relatively slow corners juxtaposed with some dazzlingly fast ones - including a stomach-churning downhill right hander which was added in 2003.

Valentino Rossi - No more mistakes
"Last year in Sachsenring I made a mistake and crashed, and at the last race in Assen I also made a mistake, so I hope that I've now had my bad moment for this year! Sachsenring has been a great track for me in the past and it's a great place to race at; it's very tight and twisty but it generally suits the Yamaha very well and in 2006 I had a fantastic race there, winning from 11th. We are going there having lost our championship lead but we're only four points behind so the situation is certainly much better than it was at this point last season. I was disappointed with myself in Assen because I missed a great chance but I have put that behind me and I am completely focused on the next race now. We need to be at 100% from the first practice and hopefully we can have a good weekend with no more mistakes!"

Jorge Lorenzo - Back in training
"I have recently started to train normally again after a gap of two months, which has been quite hard for me and I have been very tired lately! Since the accident in China I haven't been able to use the exercise bike or do proper cardiovascular work until last week, so I am just having to take my regime step-by-step to try to build my strength; I know that building my fitness back up is the best way to return to my former level. Even though it's been a hard time for me through the last two months I think that the crashes have made me stronger mentally; when you win it's easy but when things are going badly, this is when you learn more about yourself and this is very important to make you a better competitor. For the next race I have to keep trying to build my confidence with the bike. Sachsenring is a complicated track and my best result there is only third, but I don't think about statistics when I race. I just want to arrive at Sachsenring feeling relaxed and do my best to enjoy it."

Davide Brivio - Striving for perfection
"We are coming into the second half of the season and it seems the competition is getting harder and harder. Of course, Casey Stoner is in great shape - he has won two consecutive races - and Dani Pedrosa is also very consistent so we have to try to respond. Our target, as always, going into the weekend is the podium but we will work our hardest during practice to try and achieve the maximum on Sunday. I think when our package is at the same level as the others it is difficult to beat Valentino but currently in MotoGP everything has to be perfect. The rider who achieves this is normally able to dominate so we have to do our job in practice. It doesn't mean any more pressure than normal because we always strive for perfection and when you fight for championships this is what you get used to. Basically we will try not to make any mistakes and hope everything is in place for Valentino to fight for victory, as he did a couple of races ago."
Daniele Romagnoli - Positive and optimistic
"It has not been an easy period for Jorge but he is getting more confidence back with every practice session and this is the important thing. Unfortunately his progress wasn't reflected in the race at Assen because the setting was not perfect, specifically in the electronics and the chassis, but we know which areas we need to work on and we are confident we can give him a better package at Sachsenring. It is a different kind of circuit, a different kind of setting and we have to make a clean start on Friday morning. Side grip is very important at Sachsenring because the riders spend a lot of time a maximum angle on the left-hand side, so this is an area we will be looking to strengthen. It is not Jorge's favourite track so I'm sure it will be a difficult Grand Prix but we are all approaching it in a very positive and optimistic way."

Go Vale Go !!!!!

MotoGP preview by Bridgestone Motorsport ahead of the German Grand Prix

Following two sets of back-to-back races in Italy, Catalunya, Britain and the Netherlands in June, MotoGP’s action packed 2008 tour continues with a third consecutive double header, starting with this weekend’s trip to Germany, another of motorcycle racing’s most frequented destinations.

This year’s event will be the 23rd premier class event to be held at the Sachsenring, which hosted its first race back in 1961, but will be the 66th race in total to be held on German soil since the championship began back in 1949. Sachsenring held the East German GP uninterrupted from 1961-1972 on a closed road circuit, but rejoined the calendar with a brand new circuit in 1998, where it has remained since.

Loris Capirossi scored the best ever result at Sachsenring for a Bridgestone shod rider in last year’s German GP, taking second place for Ducati in difficult conditions with track temperatures soaring above 50°C. Having enjoyed debut dry weather victories in Mugello, Donington and Assen in recent weeks, Bridgestone will be hoping to cross Sachsenring off its ‘to do’ list this weekend, but is aware of the technical hurdles that it must first overcome.

Bridgestone has been kept busy in the time since Casey Stoner scored his dominant Assen victory just under two weeks ago, including an important two day test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the United States, the first test session to be held at the new-look MotoGP track. Bridgestone gathered important data with Ducati, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha teams, and riders Niccolo’ Canepa, Olivier Jacque, Ben Spies and Wataru Yoshikawa respectively.

Hiroshi Yamada - Bridgestone Motorsport – Manager, Motorcycle Sport Unit:
“Our frantic season continues at full steam with the next set of back-to-back races in Germany and Laguna Seca already upon us, two tracks at which we experienced contrasting fortunes last season. Sachsenring is another of the few circuits at which we have yet to take MotoGP victory, but we are highly motivated after recent results in Mugello, Donington and Assen. The German GP is a home event for a lot of our on-site team, especially our team of fitters, who are based in Speyer near Hockenheim, so a strong result would be a great reward for all their hard work this season.”

Tohru Ubukata – Bridgestone Motorsport – Manager, Race Tyre Development:
“Sachsenring proved to be one of our more difficult circuits last year with the asymmetrical nature of the track and extreme heat combining to make life hard for our tyres over the full race distance. Loris was nevertheless able to take second place, a great achievement, and the best ever result for a rider on Bridgestone tyres at Sachsenring. We know it will not be an easy race weekend, but we will do our maximum to provide our teams with race-winning rubber. We will also be keeping an eye on the weather conditions because the rain has been a keen follower of MotoGP this season. After Assen, we conducted a two-day test at Indianapolis, which allowed us to carry out fundamental tyre studies at this new track configuration. The circuit is not completely unknown to Bridgestone because it incorporates some parts of the old Formula 1 layout, as well as some of the traditional oval course, at which we have raced in four-wheel championships. It is a complex layout with different types of asphalt, as well as slow and high speed elements, which will provide us with an exciting challenge when we race there in September.”

2007 Flashback
“Casey Stoner set an impressive standard in Friday practice at the resurfaced Sachsenring in 2007, breaking the previous year’s best lap by 0.6s. Hotter conditions greeted teams and riders for the remainder of the weekend and qualifying was a closely-fought battle with 0.013s separating the front row riders, led by Stoner on pole. Marco Melandri qualified third for Honda Gresini as four Bridgestone-shod riders filled the top five. Race day was tough for Bridgestone riders with competitive tyre performance not lasting the full race distance. Loris Capirossi scored a fine second place, while Stoner’s fifth place nevertheless extended his lead of the championship.”

2 more days, I can't wait for this race and I hope Yamaha have found something more out of the bike.

German GP: Michelin preview

Michelin riders lead the 2008 MotoGP World Championship and hold six of the top eight points-scoring positions as the season moves into its second half in Germany.
Championship leader Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V-Michelin) travels to the Sachsenring aiming to repeat his runaway 2007 victory at the sinuous, anti-clockwise track. And his team-mate Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC212V-Michelin) will be going all out for a podium after missing third place at Assen by a few seconds. Collin Edwards (Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1-Michelin) grabbed that third place and will be aiming for another big points haul in Germany, along with fellow Michelin runners Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha Team YZR-M1-Michelin), Andrea Dovizioso (JiR Team Scot Honda RC212V-Michelin), James Toseland (Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1-Michelin) and Randy de Puniet (Honda LCR RC212V-Michelin).
Sachsenring commences its second decade of MotoGP racing this year. The short circuit hosted its first World Championship event in 1998, quarter of a century after the old Sachsenring street circuit last hosted a GP. Sachsenri ng was first used for racing in 1927 and hosted its first GP in 1961. Michelin has won all ten premier-class GPs held at the modern, purpose-built track.

SACHSENRING TRACK FACT
Sachsenring: 3.671m
Lap record: Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team RC212V-Michelin), 1m 23.082s, 159.066km/h-(2007)
Pole position 2007: Casey Stoner (Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici), 1m 22.384s

"The Sachsenring isn't particularly abrasive but it's very demanding on the left side of the rear," says Jean-Philippe Weber, Michelin's chief of motorcycle racing. "The main characteristic of the track is its asymmetry, with the left side of the tyres getting a lot of stress, this is what we have to work on most of all. The layou t is also very undulating, so the front tyre gets a lot of stress in the downhill sections.
"At Sachsenring the left side of the tyres use harder compounds than what we used at Assen and Donington, similar to the compounds we used on the right side at Catalunya, another demanding track. The fronts will be similar to Catalunya - medium to hard compounds.
"Warm-up on the right side is important at Sachsenring because there's not so many right-handers. Our tyre warm-up is good this year and our tyres also have a good operating range. Even at Assen we used quite hard tyres for the race because we wanted to be consistent throughout. But afterwards we saw that could have gone slightly softer with some of our riders because Tech 3 used slightly softer compounds and Colin was very fast. Now we have to go for performance because Casey Stoner [Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici] is very fast, the target is to be able to fight with Casey."
"Apart from the track itself, we can see that the level of racing this season is incredibly high, the lap times and race times are very, very fa st. The target is therefore improving tyre performance at every track, which brings us to the compromise with which we always do battle. On the one hand our riders need to be consistent throughout the race, so they need hard tyres that can deal with the stress, but on the other hand they want soft tyres to give them more grip. This is the challenge that we face.
"If you want grip you want softer tyres, if you want consistency you want harder tyres, so we have to find the best balance between the two. What we are really working at now is using harder compounds that can go very fast. Mainly i t's a chemical challenge, but machine handling is very important so construction is also important.
"Sachsenring can be a tough track, especially if it's really hot, like last year when the track temperature reached 50 degree. But we'll have to wait and see what the weather brings - so far this year we've had to struggle with rain at most events."


all the way.. here we come, sari ! bring us great good result race! go Vale Gooo! enjoy yourself and keep concentrate.. everything's gonna be okay.

Any idea when`s the press conference?

oh man i´m so exciting =) can´t wait to see how vale is doing
hope for good races
have fun everyone who is going to the sachsenrng circuit

I would guess same time as usual, so Thursday afternoon?!

As Big John McCarthy would say " Are you ready Vale, are you ready Casey,
Lets get it ON!!!!! "

Go Vale Go!!!!!!!!!

hoping for a good race from Vale... and no mistakes from the doctor or anybody near him.... cos that is also crucial...

and for the sake of all our entertainment... and patience.... let this be a close race... among the top guys....

and of course for the sake of all Vale fans... hope the Doc comes out on top of the guys fighting for the top spot....