HALFWAY HORIZON AT SACHSENRING

The German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring circuit this weekend marks the eight round of sixteen and the halfway point of an intense yet productive season for Telefónica MoviStar Honda, who currently lead the teams’ championship in the MotoGP class.

After the first seven rounds of the championship Sete Gibernau is joint leader of the premier-class, level on points with Valentino Rossi, whilst Dani Pedrosa is the undisputed leader of the quarter-litre class. However, with a final sprint ahead of the holiday break there is no time to relax, with two races in two weeks in Germany and Great Britain which could make or break the serious title contenders in both classes.

If there is one race which stands out in the career of Sete Gibernau it was last year in Germany, an unforgettable battle with Valentino Rossi over the final four laps which saw the Spaniard snatch victory in the final corner. That was Sete’s fourth win of the season, his final triumph in a season long head-to-head with the Italian. This year, Sete returns even stronger to the scene of one of his greatest moments looking to take the victory which escaped him in Rio, when a slight error saw him crash out of a race which had been perfectly planned by the team.

Unlike Sete, Colin Edwards holds the German circuit amongst some of his worst memories after a fireball incident on his first visit there last year riding the Aprilia RS Cube. The Texan has enjoyed better fortunes so far this season, moving up to fourth in the MotoGP standings, and hopes that he can lap with the lead group in Germany.

Daniel Pedrosa arrives in Germany back on top of the 250cc World Championship – a position he had previously held after the first round of the season in South Africa. A sixth podium from the opening seven races at Rio sees the Spaniard return to the top, with only one blip on his season so far due to a crash in the wet race at Jerez. Other than that his worst result is second place, a statistic which speaks volumes for his talent and his capacity for learning in his first 250cc season.

Last year Pedrosa set the top speed record for the Sachsenring on a 125cc machine after reaching 208.7 km/h. The average speed of the quarter-litre machines here deviates very little from the 990cc MotoGP bikes, who can only maximise their available power for 15% of the lap - a factor Pedrosa is looking forward to checking out for himself.

THE RIDERS’ OPINION

SETE GIBERNAU (15)

“Sachsenring is a slow and difficult circuit for a MotoGP bike and it requires a lot of physical effort because there are a lot of long left hand corners which mean you spend a lot of time leaned over. But personally I have great memories of this circuit because I won one of the best races of my life here last year. The atmosphere is also very special – the crowd is very passionate and I love to ride at Sachsenring because there is a strong base of my fan club in Germany. Also, the crowd are really close to the track and you can hear them cheering you on. Hopefully we can prepare for the race in the same way we did in Rio, but with a different result at the end of it. I made a mistake and I accept the blame for that, but once again we saw that when Valentino and I are not there, the level is not as high. In Rio I had a good chance to win and I missed out on a good opportunity to open up a gap over Rossi, but the team were once again the best and I want to pay them back with another great race this weekend”.

COLIN EDWARDS (45)

“I had an awful experience at the German GP last year, when my Aprilia set fire after the fuel cap came off. Luckily I escaped with a few small superficial burns but it gave me a real shock. Since then, whenever I think of Sachsenring I think of fire! In general, this is a strange circuit with two very different parts – one where it is very difficult to overtake and another which requires a massive physical effort because it works the left-hand side of your body really hard. Let’s just say I don’t like this track too much!”

DANI PEDROSA (26)

“Sachsenring is a fairly twisty circuit where the difference between the bikes is small and the times are always very close together. They say that the 250cc bikes set similar speeds here to MotoGP and I’m looking forward to finding that out for myself. I’m sure that it’s going to be a tough race and the weather isn’t certain at the moment. At least we have had a week to rest after Rio and recharge the batteries. Now we’ve got two races in two weeks before the holidays and there’ll be no time to recover in between. Sachsenring is not one of my favourite circuits but hopefully we can do a good job in qualifying and come away with a satisfactory result.”

HIROSHI AOYAMA (73)

“I feel more comfortable with the bike and the championship with every race that goes by – it’s a really exciting experience for me. Now we are going to Germany, back in Europe, and I hope to continue with the progression I have shown in the last few races. My plan is the same for every Grand Prix – understand and learn the circuits on a Friday, work on the bike on the Saturday and try to have a good race on the Sunday. I left Rio satisfied with sixth place but I have also finished fourth this year and I would love to get on the podium before the end of the season. It could be in Germany, where the lap times are always very close… we’ll see!”

THE 2004 SEASON SO FAR FOR THE TELEFÓNICA MOVISTAR RIDERS

GERMAN GP IN DETAIL. TRACK DATA

8th of 16 World Championship rounds.

Circuit: Sachsenring

Grand Prix: Veltins Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland

Inauguration: 1996

Latest modification: 2003

Length: 3,671 m.

Width: 10m.

Right corners: 4

Left corners: 10

Main straight: 780 m.

LOCAL TIMETABLE

Friday

09.00h.-09.45h. free practice 125cc

10.00h.-11.00h. free practice MotoGP

11.15h.-12.15h. free practice 250 cc.

13.15h.-13.45h. official practice 125 cc.

14.00h.-15.00h. official practice MotoGP

15.15h.-16.00h. official practice 250 cc.

Saturday

09.00h.-09.45h. free practice 125 cc

10.00h.-11.00h. free practice MotoGP

11.15h.-12.15h. free practice 250 cc.

13.15h.-13.45h. official practice 125 cc.

14.00h.-15.00h. official practice MotoGP

15.15h.-16.00h. official practice 250 cc.

Sunday

09.00h.-09.20h. warm up 125 cc.

09.30h.-09.50h. warm up 250 cc.

10.00h.-10.20h. warm up MotoGP

11.15 h. race 125 cc.

12.30h. race 250 cc.

14.00h. race MotoGP.

LAST YEAR

MOTOGP

Pole position: Max Biaggi (Honda) 1’23´´734

Podium: 1. Sete Gibernau (Honda), 2. Valentino Rossi (Honda), 3. Troy Bayliss (Ducati)

250 CC.

Pole position: Sebastián Porto (Honda) 1’25´´728

Podium: 1. Roberto Rolfo (Honda), 2. Fonsi Nieto (Aprilia), 3. Randy De Puniet (Aprilia)

Circuit record: 2002 Fonsi Nieto (Aprilia) (1’26´´757)