Here’s some more MotoGP rider quotes from the eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland at Sachsenring.
Andrea Dovizioso – 3rd “I am really happy to finish on the podium again and it is a great feeling to do it here because this track has never been the best for me.
It was the same in Assen last week, so to be on the podium there and also here at the Sachsenring shows the fantastic job that we are all doing in the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team.
Of course we have to consider ourselves a little bit fortunate today to finish third because of Casey’s crash.
But it proved how crucial it was for me to remain at the front of the battle with Cal and Ben for the whole race.
Now I go to my home race in Mugello with a lot of confidence and the goal will be to battle for the podium again.
” Stefan Bradl – 5th “It was a tough race from the beginning because I had to fight to maintain the gap to the group behind me.
But I took another good start and this is very positive: after that I was capable to follow the Yamaha riders for a while but I could feel that our corner speed was not enough and our edge grip in the left side was poor because after 3 or 4 laps the bike started to spin already.
That caused me some issues because I was not able to attack them and in the middle of the race I had to let them go.
From that moment I had to manage the group behind me till the chequered flag and it was very difficult.
So I had to push myself to the maximum to block Rossi, Hayden and Barberá in the last 3 laps.
I am very happy about this result because I could relegate them behind me and this fifth place is a fantastic result for me, for my family, for the Team and for my local fans.
”Alvaro Bautista – 7th“I am happy because to start from last and finish seventh is a good result.
It’s just a shame that I lost so much time at the start trying to pass the CRTs.
I was trying to do it without taking too many risks and then once I got past them I had a lot of sliding from the rear tyre, which made it a long and difficult race.
I tried to adapt my riding style and use the throttle in a different way and in the second half of the race I was able to close down the guys in front of me.
I actually managed to pass Rossi and Bradl on the penultimate lap but I lost the front and almost crashed.
I wanted to try again on the last lap but as we came into the braking zone at the bottom of the hill I could see the yellow flags so that was that.
I had another look in the last corner but couldn’t make the pass.
Anyway, the result is good and for that I want to thank the team for giving 100% all weekend even though they knew this would be a tough race.
”Cal Crutchlow – 8th “I’m pretty disappointed to be honest and I think we definitely deserved better.
My mistake was not passing Andrea earlier because I had the pace to be with Lorenzo.
I was just waiting behind Andrea for the last five laps to size up an attack but unfortunately I ran off at the first corner.
It was my mistake but I got back on track and was just as fast and recovered a couple of places, so it wasn’t too bad in the end.
I’m not sure why but Andrea’s bike seemed to accelerate better than mine and he had more speed on the straight.
Once again though I have showed what I am capable of.
I got the third fastest lap of the race too so we definitely have the speed to battling in the top five at every race.
”Hector Barbera – 9th“I’m really happy.
It was the best and the most enjoyable race of this 2012 campaign.
I fought with the Ducati Factory riders and I finished the race between Valentino and Nicky.
But the most important point was that I had a great race pace and the gap from the top three MotoGP riders wasn’t too large.
Now I want to continue on this way, trying to enjoy riding, like today.
”Randy De Puniet – 11th“Today I had a good race, to round off a great weekend.
My start was perfect and I was quickly up alongside my teammate.
I got past him and latched onto the rear wheel of some factory bikes for a few laps.
They broke away a little later, but this push at the start allowed me to keep my pace up.
Álvaro got by me and I stuck with him as well, which also allowed me to ride fast and consistently.
This has undoubtedly been my best weekend of the year -above all the race.
I was riding by myself for a great deal of the time and it wasn’t easy, so I had to keep focus and not drop my pace.
This is the second race in which we have been the best CRT, we are working well and I feel comfortable with the bike -Which shows on track.
We are going in the right direction and have to continue like this.
”Colin Edwards – 12th “I had a great start, got to the first corner but Barbera wouldn’t le me have it, so he comes up on the inside and pushes out and a couple of other got me there.
I put my head down and started putting laps together, tried not make any mistakes.
We had a big problem in the beginning of the race with the traction control, just steps to fast out and its just not very friendly.
I spent the next few laps playing with the traction control, trying to get something more to get it to be smoother.
The Espargaro was in front of me and I saw that I was catching little by little on to him, passed him then he passed me and finally passed him again and made it stick.
I could see De Puniet was coming back little by little but I just didn’t have enough time to left.
Thanks to my guys, we worked really hard this weekend in both the wet and the dry and thanks to Bridgestone.
” Aleix Espargaró – 13th “Today’s was a tough race, because we didn’t have the bike as well setup for the conditions as for in the rain.
We had barely ridden in the dry this weekend and paid the price for that.
I pushed as hard as I could at the start, but the bike wasn’t going as well as we wanted, I lacked front end feel and was finding it hard to hold my line on the fast corners.
I kept a fast pace up to try and hold position, but Colin got past me at the end.
We lost some points and it is disappointing, just like in Holland.
Randy has moved ahead of us but things are very even.
We have to keep fighting to continue our good form.
”James Ellison – 15th “It was another tough one if I’m being truthful.
We were really consistent on lap times and just 0.
9 seconds off the best CRT lap and 2.
8 seconds off the fastest lap set by Dani Pedrosa.
My start was good but because I was so far back on grid, it was always going to be difficult to get away with the leading CRT bikes.
I hung in with Pasini, Edwards and Hernandez for a long time but just started to lose touch at half race distance.
I was pushing so hard to catch Hernandez right until the end but it just wasn’t enough.
To come away with another championship point and one place higher in the table is a positive and so is the information we have gathered on the longer chassis we have been testing for the last three races.
The other ARTs have been running a stiffer swingarm for the last three races which improves the rear grip so I’m hoping when we get this we can close the gap back up to the leaders.
The team as usual worked their bits off so big thanks to them for staying positive and getting behind me.
”Danilo Petrucci – 17thIt was a very hard race.
I feel a lot of pain to the breast and the back for the crash of yesterday, and for this reason it was very difficult to force the pace.
Next week we will race in Mugello, my home track, and I will do my best to get a good result in front of my fans”.
Mattia Pasini – DNF“It’s a shame how this weekend ended.
Things were going better, for the race we had managed to find a solution that helped us in being more competitive on top of the ART machine.
We knew we had a consistent rhythm and that we had the chance to fight among the other CRT bikes, I was just waiting for the second part of the race to try and move up a few positions.
On the fifth lap another rider made me crash and the race ended that way.
Now we leave behind this GP to look towards Mugello, our home race, and we’ll see if we can make up there.
”Michele Pirro – DNF“There is not much I can say after another unlucky race.
We didn’t need the crash yesterday and today we had the same problem that caused me to retire in Qatar.
It’s a shame because we could have had a good race and made life difficult for the top CRT.
I am disappointed for me and the team but we will try to make up for it at Mugello.
”Photo source motogp.
com
