PREVIEW GP OF GERMANY
The MotoGP World Championship crosses its halfway point at
the German Grand Prix, round ten of eighteen on the 2007 calendar.
The teams and riders are ready for another challenging double-header,
with races at Sachsenring and Laguna Seca coming on consecutive
Sundays before the summer break.
Currently lying sixth in the championship on 87 points, just
one behind Chis Vermeulen (5th), Marco Melandri is ready to
tackle Sachsering, motivated to score a good result after
the difficult race weekend in Assen.
Meanwhile, back in Spain, Toni Elias is continuing with his
recovery from the broken left femur he picked up at Assen.
After spending a few days under observation at the Dexeus
Institute in Barcelona, where he has been treated by Doctor
Xavier Mir, Toni is now able to continue his rehabilitation
at home.
His return is pencilled in for either Brno on August 19th
or Misano on September 2nd. Toni will be replaced by the 22
years old Italian rider Michel Fabrizio for the German event
at Sachsenring. The replacer rider for the Grand Prix of the
United States will be Miguel Duhamel, the rider of Honda USA.
MARCO MELANDRI: "The next two circuits
are really interesting and the Germany-USA double header will
be really demanding. Sachsenring is a unique circuit but I
like it because it is so flowing. At such a slow and twisty
track the setting of the bike has to be perfect. Hopefully
we can have a good session on Friday and find a good compromise
for the set-up. From a rider's perspective it is important
to control the throttle and not be too aggressive."
MICHEL FABRIZIO: "I'm very happy to
have another opportunity to ride the Honda Motogp after the
unlucky launch last year at Donington Park, while I was replacing
Toni. I'm very excited and I hope to score a better result
this year. I have raced at Sachsenring in 2004, this experience
may help me in the knowledge of the track. I'm enthusiastic
and I thank Fausto Gresini for this great chance".
SACHSENRING - SET-UP EXPLAINED: Riders often
talk about the 'setting' of their bikes, when asked to explain
their performance in a practice session or race. It is a broad
concept, which requires great experience and professionalism
to understand, and now the Team Gresini Honda engineers face
one of their biggest challenges as they try to adapt the machines
from the demands of a fast and lowing circuit such as Assen
to the tight and twisty nature of Sachsenring. "Assen
requires a motorcycle that can turn well through the slow
sections but have the power to excel in the fast sections
which are taken with the throttle wide open," explains
Antonio Jimenez, Marco Melandri's Chief Engineer. "Sachsenring,
however, is a circuit that doesn't have a long straight or
any fast sections - even the main straight is only taken in
fourth. The rest of the circuit is made up of second and third
gear corners so the cycle part of the bike is extremely important,
as well as a sweet and progressive power delivery, particularly
in low revs. The gearbox also comes under a lot of strain
because the riders spend so much time in either second or
third." "You need a bike that turns well,"
adds Fabrizio Cecchini, Chief Engineer for Toni Elias. "Compared
to Assen you need a softer setting on the front forks and
rear shock." Once again the biggest unknown factor this
weekend could be the weather, which is extremely unpredictable
in this part of Germany. Track temperatures can vary between
22° and 50°. Tyre choice is therefore crucial and
can only be made once the teams arrive at the track. There
are other factors that affect tyre choice at Sachsenring,
namely the prevalence of left-hand corners (10 to be exact),
which require the riders to spend lots of time on the edge
of the tyre.
THE TRACK: Located around 100km south of
Dresden in the former East Germany, Sachsenring has hosted
road races since the 1920s. The final Grand Prix held on the
old circuit was in 1972 (when Giacomo Agostini took victory
in the 500cc race), when the track measured 8.6km in length.
In 1996 a new venue was created just a few kilometres from
Chemnitz and it has been changed on a few occasions since
then with the aim of making it faster.The latest update took
place in 2003 but the German circuit remains the slowest on
the current MotoGP calendar. Its tight and twisty nature makes
it an interesting circuit to watch races at but it is also
very demanding and therefore not a favourite of the MotoGP
riders, with few places to overtake. The importance of outright
horsepower makes way for a balanced chassis, which is particularly
crucial in the slow and tight first half of the track.
THE TRACK
Constructed:1996
Modified:2003
Length:3671 m
Width: 10 m
Pole: Left
Right corners: 4
Left corners: 10
Longest straight: 780m
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