Sachsenring, Germany: Nine-time World Champion Valentino Rossi (pictured) even surprised himself with his magical return to winning form at Assen and he now approaches the Sachsenring with an invigorated spirit.
Indeed, given what his 80th premier class victory meant to his team and masses of loyal fans, Rossi carries huge motivation into the eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland, at a venue where he holds a solid record.
The Sachsenring circuit has witnessed numerous victories for the Italian, with Rossi having taken a 250 win in 1999 and four MotoGP victories at the track in 2002, 2005, 2006 and 2009.
“I’m going to the Sachsenring with a new spirit,” the Yamaha Factory Racing rider states.
“I am very happy for the Holland race. Now I want to keep it going like that. We also want to confirm at the Sachsenring the step we’ve made with the bike.
“We must continue to improve the bike, as we did after testing at Aragon, because we now want to try to fight for important positions.
“We want to stay with the top guys every weekend. I really like the Sachsenring and then there will be Laguna Seca. These will be two very important weekends.”
Then riding for Ducati Team, Rossi finished ninth in Germany in 2011 and last year he was sixth, which was his best dry weather result from the first eight races of 2012.
Meanwhile the Germany Grand Prix kicked off today with the pre-race conference where Repsol Honda Team’s current MotoGP championship leader Dani Pedrosa was joined by Yamaha Factory Racing duo Jorge Lorenzo and Rossi, as well as Monster Yamaha Tech3’s Cal Crutchlow, Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso and LCR Honda MotoGP’s local boy Stefan Bradl.
Pedrosa, who has stormed to victory in Germany for the last three years in succession, is aware that competition this year will be strong.
“We have to work very strong on the weekend and go practice by practice, trying out the tyres on the bike to find a good setting and have a good race result for the team and myself,” Pedrosa said.
“I think we were struggling on tracks where we have always struggled, so of course we were behind, but we more of less expected that. I think we can have some good races from now on.”
Despite only two weeks in to his healing process from a broken collarbone, Lorenzo is keen to mount a serious challenge on his compatriot.
“I was really surprised to have the possibility to race at Assen, but I am also surprised at the very quick recovery that I am having,” Lorenzo said.
“Every day I feel a big improvement, also because I have the physio working with me every day, morning and afternoon, lots of hours working together. I don’t feel perfect, but I feel much better than I did at Assen and that is very good.” AGENCIES
