MotoGP Sachsenring: Sunday (updated regularly)

NEWEST AT TOP

Repsol Honda

Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa followed up his win in America two weeks ago with an excellent podium finish in the German Grand Prix today. The 23-year-old Spaniard blasted from eighth on the grid to second at the first corner and was threatening eventual winner Valentino Rossi in the first few laps.

After a big slide in the middle section of the race Pedrosa reduced his pace, dropped back to fourth and it looked like his podium challenge might be over. But sensing an improvement in feedback, Pedrosa was able to attack again, retake Casey Stoner for third and close in on the back of the leaders. He set a new lap record of 1m 21.126 on lap 25, beating his own lap record from 2007 by almost a second, but couldn’t quite mount a challenge to second place man Jorge Lorenzo and Rossi ahead of him. Pedrosa crossed the line in third position just 2.899s behind the winner to record his fifth podium of the 2009 MotoGP season.

Andrea Dovizioso also looked like a podium contender early in the race, despite starting from the fourth row of the grid. The genial Italian rider shot from 11th to fifth on the first lap and overtook Lorenzo for fourth on lap three. Soon though he experienced a loss of grip from the front of his machine which meant it was impossible for the former world champion to continue at his impressive pace. Eventually, having dropped back to 11th, Dovizioso was forced to pull into the pits. His team together with Bridgestone’s tyre technicians will analyze the reason for the loss of grip.

Having passed its midway point, the MotoGP world championship now hops to Donington Park for the British Grand Prix, which takes place next Sunday at the unusual time of 15.30.

DANI PEDROSA – 3rd – World Championship position: 4th 108 points
“I’m pleased to be on the podium, and finishing this close to the leaders proves that our win at the last race wasn’t by chance. I made a very good start and in the first few laps I was comfortable behind Valentino. On about lap six or seven though I had a big moment in the last corner and almost crashed, so after that I slowed down a little and dropped back to fourth. With a slightly slower pace I felt the feedback coming back and towards the end of the race I was able to push hard again. I got past Casey and tried to catch the leaders but by this time I was a bit too far behind. Third place is a good result, but we were ready to fight for the win at this circuit so it looks like we still have a little bit of work to do. The team is in good shape though and we’re making progress all the time, so I’m confident we can continue to challenge for better results and preferably for wins. Donington is next and I’m looking forward to it. Let’s hope we can have an even better race there.”

ANDREA DOVIZIOSO – Retired – World Championship position: 7th 69 points
“We needed a strong result here and at the start of the race I was able to ride at a really good pace. I made a quick start from the fourth row and got past six riders on the first lap – then I was able to get past Lorenzo for fourth on the third lap. On that lap I did a 1m 22.7s but then, during the fourth lap, the front folded at turn eight and I ran wide. Within a few laps after this the performance from the front had dropped dramatically. It meant I couldn’t lean the bike or brake as normal so it was very difficult to control the bike. From then on my target was to finish the race but with five laps to go I had an electrical issue with the machine and I had to pull in. Obviously I’m really disappointed with the result because I was feeling fast here and I had a very good feeling from the bike. We really had the potential for a good result here, which is what we need at this moment. Still, now we’ll go to Donington next weekend and aim for the level of result we’re capable of.”

KAZUHIKO YAMANO – REPSOL HONDA TEAM MANAGER
“This was another strong ride from Dani and his pace was almost enough to challenge for the win today. It was a fighting performance from him and it’s good to see him on the podium for the second race in succession. Obviously we’d prefer to have a Repsol Honda rider on the top step and that’s what we’ll keep working for. We’ve been improving and we must continue to do so. For Andrea the result was obviously disappointing because he too had a good race pace in the early stages. We’ll have to look into the reasons for his front end problem today and I’m sure he can bounce back with a strong result at Donington.”

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Gagne Racing

Sachsenring, Germany (July 18, 2009) – Jake Gagne followed up his Red Bull Rookies Cup podium performance in the Netherlands with another spot on the box at the race in Germany on Saturday. Gagne toughed it out in wet conditions and outlasted his rivals on his way to another third-place finish in a heady performance.

“Qualifying and practice were held in the dry, so when it started raining on Sunday, I knew I had my work cut out for me. I hadn’t ridden in the wet since the Riders Cup race in Valencia last year,” said the fifteen year-old Californian. “I had a pretty good start on the second row, but I was going to get the feel for things and keep from riding over my head. After the first few laps, I started to get a good feel for the bike and the conditions and I turned the same times as the leaders, even though I had lost some ground.”

Gagne’s first trip to Germany saw him ride a steady-but-quick race that paid off in the final laps. “As the race wore on, it seemed like everyone was crashing,” Jake said after the race. “I just made sure I stayed up. It brought me another podium. That’s two in a row! We’ll keep the ball rolling and keep finishing races and getting good results. England is next weekend and it feels good having some momentum going into that race.”

Gagne is the top ranked American in the series and now is seventh in the points standings.
Jake and the Red Bull Rookies Cup will race next weekend at Donington in the United Kingdom.

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Monster Yamaha Tech3

A double top ten finish for Colin Edwards and James Toseland moved the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team into fourth place in the Team World Championship standings after a hard fought German MotoGP race this afternoon.

Starting from seventh on the grid, American Edwards stayed on the fringes of the top six until he encountered minor rear handling issues that saw him drop down to 11th on lap eight.
Quickly adapting his style to compensate, Edwards produced an impressive performance in the second half of the race as he closed down on the battle between Nicky Hayden and Marco Melandri for seventh position.

But having reduced the gap to less than 1.5s, Edwards had to settle for ninth to finish just two seconds off a fourth top six of the season.

British rider James Toseland was just one place further back in 10th place. Racing with a new Yamaha YZR-M1 anti-wheelie system for the first time, Toseland made a good start from the fifth row of the grid but found himself boxed in at the Sachsenring’s tight first corner.

Having overcome a small front tyre grip issue in the early stages of a 30-lap race, run in bright and sunny conditions, Toseland threatened to challenge for a top six as he pursued the group including Edwards, Hayden, Melandri and Toni Elias. Toseland eventually settled into a consistent pace and easily pulled away from Loris Capirossi and Mika Kallio to claim his fifth top ten finish of the season.

The result ensured the 28-year-old gave himself a big confidence boost ahead of his home race at Donington Park next weekend.

Colin Edwards 9th – 83 points
“It was a weird race and I had a similar problem to the last few races. It feels like I’ve got a load of weight on the rear pushing me into the corners. I can’t get the bike to turn and today was pretty much the same. The first few laps were a bit of nightmare because I was losing the front a lot. I was going backwards and at one point dropped out of the top ten, but when I thought it was going to be a long afternoon, a strange thing happened. As the rear grip started to drop, I actually got faster and the bike starting turning. With less grip on the rear I could turn the bike and it would help keep the front from just running straight on. So I just got my head down and recovered some positions but I ran out of laps when I getting closer to Nicky (Hayden) and Marco (Melandri). Now we go to Donington, which is a place that I love. I’ve had some success there in MotoGP and I’ll be looking to get closer to the front for all my guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3, who have worked hard again all weekend.”

James Toseland 10th – 45 points
“I got a decent start and I was pleased with that after what happened at Laguna Seca and the anti-wheelie system from Yamaha has made a massive difference. But I got boxed in at the first corner. I’m not sure who it was but I had contact on my right and left knee. I didn’t roll off and got through but at the start of the race I had a few issues with the front tyre. We’re not sure if it was the temperature or the full fuel load but at the start I didn’t have much confidence. After about half distance it really started working well and I could run a really consistent pace. With the mixed conditions all weekend, I’d not had chance to run the hard rear tyre, but I really thought it would come strong in the last ten laps and help me chase the bunch I was on the back for a while that were battling for seventh. But the hard tyre wasn’t really an advantage for the last few laps and there was no difference in performance against the guys on the soft rear tyre. I’m satisfied with another top ten though and I’m now looking forward to my home race now at Donington Park. Another top ten has given me a bit of a boost. I’ll be looking to make amends for the disappointment of last year at the British GP and giving it my all for my home crowd.”

Herve Poncharal – Team Manager
“We expected a lot better because this is a track that we know Yamaha is very strong at, but Colin and James rode to their maximum again. It has been a hard weekend with the track conditions changing so much and both of them finishing in the top ten is not a bad result. Through their hard work we are back in fourth place in the Team World Championship and Colin has consolidated his fifth place in the rider standings, which is a great reward for his consistency. James also had a very solid race and this has given some good confidence ready for his home race at Donington Park next week where he keen to perform for his home fans. Congratulations again to Yamaha with another very impressive performance from Valentino and Jorge. They are showing that Yamaha really is the best brand in MotoGP.”

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Bridgestone

Bridgestone compounds available:       Front: Slicks – Hard, Extra hard   Wets – Hard; Rear: Slicks – Hard, Extra hard (asymmetric)   Wets – Hard

Fiat Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi took his fourth victory of the season using Bridgestone’s hard slicks this afternoon, finishing just 0.099seconds ahead of teammate Jorge Lorenzo, who used the same front tyre but an extra hard compound rear slick.

As  the  two  pushed  each  other  to  the  finish  in  another  nail-biting  race,  they  both  set  their  fastest laps  on  the  last  lap, demonstrating  the  consistency  and  durability  of  the  Bridgestone  slicks.  Their  fastest  laptimes  were  eclipsed  by  Dani Pedrosa however, who set a new circuit lap record five laps from the finish on his way to third position. The Repsol Honda rider opted for the same hard compound front and extra hard compound rear slick tyre combination as Lorenzo.

A  rain shower  before  the  race  ensured  that  teams  had their  wet  Bridgestone  tyres at  the  ready,  and  even  though  the rainclouds continued to threaten the conditions remained dry.  The softer option front tyre was used by all riders except Ducati Team’s Casey Stoner, but rear tyre choices were much more varied. Ten riders opted for the hard compound rear slicks, whilst seven favoured the extra hard compound.

Sachsenring has always been very demanding of tyres, the long series of fast lefts really testing the shoulder grip of both the front slicks and the asymmetric rears. Using Bridgestone tyres for the first time at this circuit, Pedrosa beat his previous race lap record, set in 2007, by almost one second, showing that the Bridgestone slicks performed well today.

Hiroshi Yamada – Bridgestone Motorsport – Manager Motorcycle Sport Unit: “Sachsenring is a tricky circuit and again this year we saw conditions that were not easy. Under difficult situations it was very good to see another exciting battle with the top four riders, and also at the end of the race between Valentino and Jorge. I’d like to congratulate them both for another spectacular race right to the flag, and to Dani for setting a new lap record here. I am also pleased for San Carlo Honda Gresini for Alex’s highest finish of the year and for Toni’s great race in which he climbed from 17th to finish sixth.”

Tohru Ubukata – Bridgestone Motorsport – Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development: “I am pleased with the compound choices we brought this weekend because our slick tyres showed good durability and reasonably faster lap times. The rain that fell between warm-up and the race changed the condition of the track, and this may be why a small number of riders suffered a faster wear rate of their front tyre during the race.”

Valentino Rossi – Fiat Yamaha Team – Race Winner: “First of all it was another fantastic race! It was another great battle at the start with Stoner and later especially with Jorge to the last lap. It was fun but very tough. There was some overtaking as the top riders’ choice was different in the tyres so there was different behaviour in the bikes and some different lines in places. Now that tyres are all the same for everybody you have to fight more on the track. I tried to stay concentrated and had a great last lap. It is another victory and I’m so happy!

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MotoGP

Valentino Rossi was never under any illusions that he would have it easy in his defense of the MotoGP world title, and once again the Italian was made to fight for glory at the Alice Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland. The Fiat Yamaha rider took the win at Sachsenring by just 0.099s from persistent rival Jorge Lorenzo in a breathtaking race to extend his lead in the World Championship.

After starting from pole for the first time at the German track, Rossi took the lead of the race after thirteen laps. Both the Italian and teammate Lorenzo eked out an advantage to make it a two-way battle to the chequered flag, with a last lap battle reminiscent of the Barcelona round of the series one month ago. Rossi’s definitive pass had come at the end of the home straight with two laps to go, and he brushed off the young pretender’s overtures for his fourth win of the 2009 season.

Starting from eighth on the grid, Dani Pedrosa had established his credentials in the dry with the best lap in the morning warmup. He had another storming start at Sachsenring to move up to the lead group, and put up a bold fight both amongst and behind the Yamaha duo. The Repsol Honda rider completed the podium with a race time under three seconds down on the top two.

Early leader Casey Stoner’s stamina lasted longer than he had expected in the dry race, and he was able to mount a serious challenge for the win. With five laps to go, however, he was passed by Pedrosa going into the first turn, and one lap later a sit-up meant that he lost touch of the Spaniard.

Alex de Angelis and Toni Elías had a successful salvage operation for the San Carlo Honda Gresini team, placing fifth and sixth, respectively. Elías was particularly impressive, having started from last place.

The only retirees from the race were Randy de Puniet – who crashed on the opening lap – and Andrea Dovizioso. The latter fell victim to excessive front tyre wear and was forced to call it a day before the end of the 30-lap Grand Prix.

250cc

Marco Simoncelli kept his title challenge alive with a win in the 250cc contest, his second victory of his World Championship defense. As in 2008, the Metis Gilera rider broke free from the pack in the early going. This time, however, he had Álex Debón along for the ride. Simoncelli couldn’t shake the Spanish veteran despite his best attempts, although he had enough breathing space to prevent any overtaking moves.

Debón held on to second place, his first rostrum of the 2009 season, whilst behind him a fierce battle developed for the final podium spot. Álvaro Bautista took the trailing group up to his countryman on the final lap, but was unsuccessful in making a move on Debón despite putting in a circuit record lap. He did, however, get past title rival and series leader Hiroshi Aoyama to cut the gap in the standings to ten points.

The race had been restarted after an initial lap when rain fell on the Sachsenring, but during the wait between starts the track was deemed to have dried sufficiently for the majority of riders to change back to slick tyres.

125cc

Julián Simón extended his lead at the head of the 125cc World Championship classification, meanwhile, with a runaway win. The Bancaja Aspar rider had been the standout rider in every wet practice session for the German date, but proved equally adept in the dry on race day for a second triumph of 2009.

An all-Spanish podium saw Simón’s teammate Sergio Gadea extend his podium run to three races with second place, also allowing him to become the closest rival for Simón in the overall standings.

Belson Derbi’s Joan Olivé completed the podium with his first rostrum of the season, following the battle of the race between himself, fourth placed Nico Terol and Marc Maquez. A clash of fairings between Olivé and Marquez led to the latter taking a huge highside on the final lap.

The 2009 FIM MotoGP World Championship continues at a rapid pace with the British Grand Prix taking place at Donington Park next weekend (24th-26th July).

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Fiat Yamaha

For the second time this season, Fiat Yamaha riders Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo were embroiled in a thrilling head to head battle to the flag at the German Grand Prix in Sachsenring today. As at Catalunya earlier this season, it was the eight-time World Champion Rossi who emerged the winner, but his young team-mate pushed him every step of the way and finished just 0.099 seconds behind, an almost identical gap to that of Catalunya. Rossi’s 101st win means he equals Agositini’s all-time podium record of 159 in all classes.

Rossi got a brilliant start from pole, in contrast to Lorenzo beside him who slipped several places to sixth at the first split. The 22-year-old soon made up one place however and then Randy de Puniet crashed, elevating him to fourth at the end of the first lap. Lorenzo had a brief exchange with Andrea Dovizioso but soon dispensed with him and it was then Rossi leading from Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa and Lorenzo – the four main championship protagonists within three-quarters of a second.

On lap seven Rossi relinquished his lead to Stoner and it remained that way for the next ten laps, although the gap from the Australian to Lorenzo in third was almost nothing. On lap 18 the Italian pulled off a brilliant pass on the brakes at the bottom of the hill into the penultimate turn to retake the lead and his team-mate followed him through, passing Stoner on the finish straight to leave the Yamaha pair lying first and second. They quickly began to eke out a gap from their pursuers and with less than two tenths between them it was clear that they were heading towards another tense finale. Lorenzo made his move at the start of lap 26, passing his team-mate into turn one and hanging onto the lead until the second to last lap, when Rossi overtook him in the same place in what proved to be the decisive pass. A brave attempt from Lorenzo to go around the outside of Rossi at the start of the final lap fell short and a perfect final lap from the 30-year-old sealed his fourth win of the season, leaving Lorenzo to content himself with his eighth podium this year and Pedrosa to cross the line nearly three seconds further back in third.

Rossi’s win means he stretches his lead over Lorenzo in second to 14 points, with eight rounds remaining. The Spaniard in turn lies14 points ahead of Stoner as the paddock moves straight on to the UK for the British Grand Prix at Donington Park

Valentino Rossi, Position: 1st   Time: 41′21.769
“I think this was a great race for everyone because there were all four leading riders of the championship, fighting very closely and all in strong form. We knew that they would all be tough to beat today so I am very pleased about this win, I rode very well and my team worked brilliantly all weekend to find the right setting. I had a very good start today, a great battle with Stoner early on and then after half race distance I was a little faster and really able to push at the maximum, which was great fun. At the end it came down to another incredible battle with Lorenzo and I really had to be on top form, especially because he passed me when I wasn’t expecting it. Luckily I was able to take him back and then I rode a perfect final lap with no mistakes. Everything worked well today, my M1 and my Bridgestone tyres, so thanks and well done to everyone. This is my fourth win of the year and I really think that our Yamaha is a fantastic bike this season. I think races like this are great for the sport. Now we have a small advantage in the championship and we’re going straight to Donington, one of my favourite tracks where I really hope I can win after a few bad years without a victory!”

Jorge Lorenzo, Position: 2nd   Time: +0.099
“Today was a very hard race because this track is slow and twisty and you have to use all the strength in your body to ride at the maximum. Keeping pace with Valentino today was a big challenge for me, especially since I’m not at full fitness after Laguna, so I am happy that I was able to push him until the end. Passing him was very difficult because he braked hard and late every time, and in fact I made a bit of a mistake because I thought there were a few more laps left when I passed him! I hoped to overtake him and then try to pull away but it didn’t work out today. Of course I’m disappointed to lose another very close race, it is always sad but I know that we are capable of fighting with him and considering his experience this is something I must be proud of. Second is important today and we still have a long way to go in this championship.”

Davide Brivio, Team Manager
“What a battle and what Yamahas! Once again another very exciting race with many changes between the four top riders in the championship. As always Valentino had a very strong drive to win and today he had to use everything he had to hold off the challenge of our team-mate. Congratulations to Jorge because he made it a very hard race for us to win and of course congratulations to Valentino for doing his job brilliantly once again!”

Daniele Romagnoli, Team Manager
“Another brilliant result from us; Jorge rode a great race and the team did a very good job in finding the right setting and choosing the right tyre for him today. Considering he’s not completely fit, we have to be impressed that he could fight so strongly to the end today and push Valentino to the final lap, riding at the highest level. We have to keep going in the same way because we still have a chance in this title fight.”

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Rizla Suzuki

Rizla Suzuki racers Loris Capirossi and Chris Vermeulen both battled against injury to race to the chequered flag at Sachsenring in Germany today, earning themselves valuable championship points in the process.

Capirossi took a gamble on the harder compound Bridgestone race tyre, but he wasn’t able to get it up to optimum operating temperature and struggled to get the best feeling from his Suzuki GSV-R around the 3,671m German circuit. He eventually brought his Rizla Suzuki home in 11th place, a result that moves him up one position in the riders’ championship.

Vermeulen was still in a huge amount of pain from the hip and shoulder injuries that he sustained on Friday. He got a good start, but struggled in the early laps to brake hard enough and was relegated to last place. He fought back and even after running off the track, he managed to pass one rider on lap 10 and kept up the hunt – recording his fastest lap of the race on lap 27 of 30. Vermeulen fought all the way to the flag and passed Mika Kallio on the very last lap to bring his Suzuki GSV-R home in 13th place.

Today’s race was held under very cloudy skies, with a crowd of over 98,000 fans that saw Valentino Rossi win on his factory Yamaha and extend his championship lead.

Rizla Suzuki now has a trip back to England for the British Grand Prix next weekend, to be held at Donington Park on Sunday 26th July.

Loris Capirossi:
“We had a couple of issues during the warm-up today and when we saw that the weather was likely to be a bit better this afternoon we decided to use a harder compound tyre. Unfortunately we never had a chance to test this tyre during the practice and it was difficult to get the rubber up to temperature. This was one of the reasons that I struggled during the race, but there was also something else that wasn’t quite right and we need to understand why we did so badly here. This weekend has now finished and we could do with doing some work on this track to see where we are going wrong, but that is not possible. This is not good enough for us and we don’t want to be performing like this and we need as much help as we can get to improve things. The whole crew did a great job last night to rebuild the bike after I destroyed it yesterday, and my condition from that crash is not great but the biggest problem I had today was lack of feeling. I wasn’t able to turn as well as I wanted and this is a problem for me. I really hope that we can find some solutions and analyse the data from today and try and do our best at Donington next week.”

Chris Vermeulen:
“It has been a difficult weekend, especially after I didn’t get off to the best of starts by crashing in the first practice session. I gave my body a really hard time this weekend and because of the crash – and my condition – we lost some track-time and important set-up time. The team did give me a decent bike today, even with the lack of information that we had. I got a good start to the race and I had reasonable speed in the first couple of laps, but I struggled for braking performance and a lot of guys went past me. Then I ran off after I made a mistake and went wide in turn one and that cost me a lot of time. After that is was a pretty boring race and I was just trying to catch Canepa in front of me, but I just didn’t quite have the speed to do that. I did get Kallio on the last lap though and managed to get some points from not a good weekend. Hopefully I can get fitter over the next few days and push hard at Donington.”

Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“It is very difficult to draw any positives from the race result or for that matter the whole weekend here at Sachsenring. The riders are both very much walking wounded so it is good that they were able to finish the race today with no further damage – to either themselves or the bikes – and manage to get some points as well. We hope that they will be in a much better condition to put on an improved show at the team’s second home Grand Prix’ next weekend.”

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LCR Honda

Sachsenring, 19 July: The ninth round of the season at Sachsenring race track was conducted in the dry despite cloudy skies and some light rain in the morning but LCR Honda MotoGP Team rider Randy De Puniet did not finish the race crashing out on lap one. After yesterday’s good qualifying when De Puniet got the 6th quickest time of the day riding his Honda RC212V no. 14, the 28-year-old made a good start from the second row and was third when he crashed out in the gravel.

Luckily Randy escaped unhurt from the accident and will be back on track with his crew next week end at Donington Park race track. Rossi won the German GP followed by his team mate Lorenzo and Pedrosa.

De Puniet – OUT: “I am very disappointed because I took a good start and was in third position behind Pedrosa. After that I made a mistake in the first right corner because I opened the throttle too early suffering a big highside. Anyway I feel lucky as I escaped unhurt from the crash but this is bad for me and the Team especially for the championship. We could finish in the top five as we had the speed to make an amazing race. However I am still holding the 10th position and we will start again from zero in Donington”.

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MotoGP

• This is Valentino Rossi’s first pole in the MotoGP class at the Sachsenring circuit.

• Valentino Rossi has been on the podium sixteen times in the seventeen races since finishing second in Germany last year. If he finishes in the top three here he will equal Giacomo Agostini’s all-time record of 159 podium finishes in Grand Prix racing.

• Second on the grid, Jorge Lorenzo, has maintained his record of qualifying on the front row at every race in 2009.

•  Last year’s winner in Germany, Casey Stoner, has qualified on the front row for the 8th time this year.

• Heading the second row, Nicky Hayden has qualified in his best grid position since he was 3rd fastest qualifier at the final race of last year at Valencia. This is the best qualifying performance by a Ducati rider other than Casey Stoner since the introduction of the 800cc capacity limit at the start of 2007.

• Fifth place in qualifying is Alex de Angelis’ best grid position since he was 5th fastest qualifier at the Czech GP last year.

• Sixth on the grid Randy de Puniet has finished every race so far in 2009 and needs to finish 12th or better to improve on his 61 point-haul from the full season of 18 races in 2008.

•  Colin Edwards has scored points in all sixteen races since he crashed out in Germany last year.

•  Following his victory at Laguna Seca, if Dani Pedrosa wins the race he will be the first Honda rider to win back-to-back MotoGP victories since Marco Melandri at the final two races of 2005. If he finishes 6th or better he will become just the eighth rider to reach the milestone of 2000 career points in GP racing.

• Twelfth-place qualifier, Chris Vermeulen, finished third in Germany last year after starting from 14th on the grid.

• Marco Simoncelli starts from pole for just the second time this year – his other was in Japan, where he finished 17th after suffering a front tyre puncture.

• Hector Barbera, who finished second in Germany last year, starts on the front row for the sixth time in 2009.

• Third place qualifier, Alvaro Bautista, maintains his record of starting from the front row at every race in 2009.

• If Hiroshi Aoyama wins the race he would be the first Honda rider to take back-to-back 250cc GP wins since Dani Pedrosa in 2005.

• Fifth place on the grid for Karel Abraham is a great improvement on his previous best 250cc qualifying result of 11th, which he has achieved on three occasions.

• Aprilia have not won in the 250cc class at the Sachsenring since Marco Melandri’s victory in 2002.

• Julian Simon starts from pole for the fourth time this year. From his previous three poles in 2009 he has only once gone on to finish on the podium – second place in Qatar.

• This is the 16th time in 2009 that a Spanish rider has started from pole across the three classes; however no Spanish rider has won from pole so far this year.

• Bradley Smith has qualified on the front row for the first time since he was on pole at Mugello, when he went on to win the race.

• Marc Marquez starts from the front row for the third time in his GP career.

• Marcel Schrotter is the first wild-card rider in the 125cc class to start from the front row since Yuzo Fujioka was 4th on the grid at the Japanese GP in 1995. This is also the first front row start by a Honda rider in the 125cc class since Bradley Smith was 4th on the grid at this same circuit two years ago.

• Alexis Masbou’s 6th place on the grid is his best ever qualifying result in what will be his 68th Grand prix start.

• Seventh place on the grid is a great improvement on Takaaki Nakagami’s previous best qualifying result of 14th on the grid at Indianapolis last year.

•  Wild-card rider Eeki Kuparinen is a third generation GP rider – son of Esko who raced in the Grand Prix in the 1980’s and Grandson of Hannu who raced in GP’s in the 1960’s and 70’s.

• Aprilia riders have won the last nine 125cc Grand Prix races – the longest ever sequence of successive wins in the 125cc class
by Aprilia.