JORGE LORENZO FINISHES THIRD IN GERMANY AND RECLAIMS CHAMPIONSHIP
LEAD; HECTOR BAREBRA FIFTH
Jorge Lorenzo partially achieved his objectives at the German
GP. The FORTUNA APRILIA rider could not claim his third consecutive
victory, but after securing a place on the podium he reclaimed
the championship lead that he lost back in Turkey. Lorenzo
finished just ahead of Andrea Dovizioso and has now moved
ahead of the Italian in the championship standings. Hector
Barbera took fifth place having been dropped by the lead group
in the final third of the race. The two Fortuna Aprilia riders
were always in the leading group along with Alex de Angelis,
Dovizioso and Japanese rider Yukio Takahashi, who ultimately
took victory. Lorenzo led the race in the early stages and
tried to pull clear of his rivals. However, after realising
that he would not be able to win in the closing stages, he
opted to secure sufficient points to ensure that he headed
into the mid-season break leading the championship standings.
JORGE LORENZO, 3rd Race time : 41’31.363
WORLD STANDINGS: 1st with 174 points
“Before the race I wanted to win, but I could not manage
it so I had to settle for third and be happy with the good
work we did throughout the weekend. Maybe we should have used
a softer tyre compound because at the end I was sliding about
a lot and so I decided not to risk too much. I decided to
ride an intelligent race and, seeing that it would be very
difficult to win, I opted to take a good amount of points
and think about the championship. Now we are leading again
we will have to take it race to race and try to keep up our
good work."
HECTOR BARBERA, 5th Race time: 41’39.734
WORLD STANDINGS: 7th with 100 points
“I thought the race would turn out how it did more
or less, riding easily enough with the new tyres and then
having problems at the end when they were worn out. I ended
nine seconds behind the winner and that is not bad bearing
in mind the set-up and physical problems that I had. Now I
have a few days to rest before we start to try and find a
solution to the front end problems we've had. The team is
working very hard but we're just lacking this final bit of
performance that will allow me to push from the start to the
finish of the race."
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