TEAM SAN CARLO HONDA GRESINI READY TO TACKLE MOTOGP’S
TIGHTEST TRACK
After contesting two rounds in the space of just six days
at Donington and Assen, Team San Carlo Honda Gresini have
enjoyed a week off before taking their MotoGP World Championship
challenge to the Sachsenring circuit near Dresden for the
German Grand Prix this weekend.
Alex De Angelis heads to a circuit that has seen some of
the best performances of his career. The San Marino rider
boasts an incredible record of consecutive podiums at the
Sachsenring in the small classes, having scored three second-places
and three thirds out of six visits there between 2002 and
2007.
Shinya Nakano is himself a podium finisher at Sachsenring
in the 250cc class in 2000 and in 2001 on a 500 (both third
places). The Japanese star is targeting an improvement on
his best result of the season so far, which he picked up with
eighth place in the Dutch TT at Assen after lapping in fourth
place during the early stages of the race.
#15 ALEX DE ANGELIS
“The German Grand Prix is definitely one of my favourites.
I have a lot of affection for the Sachsenring circuit because
I took my first pole there and I’ve been on the podium
every year since 2002. The track is very technical, varied
and without any long straights so it is important to have
a good chassis set-up, more than a powerful engine. I’m
expecting a lot from this race because despite some poor results
in the last few races we’ve been in good form and produced
some excellent performances in practice. Unfortunately up
to now we’ve had a bit of bad luck and maybe in the
last couple of races I’ve been a bit hot-headed –
knowing I had good pace and trying too hard not to lose contact
with the lead group. I feel really comfortable with the new
Bridgestones and since the start of the season I’ve
improved my race pace and my general feeling with the bike
so I am confident because tyres play such a crucial role at
this track.”
#56 SHINYA NAKANO
“At Assen I managed to improve on my best position
of the season with eighth place, although to be honest it
could have been better because I got a good start and held
on to fourth place for a number of laps. In any case, I feel
confident about the German Grand Prix because I showed I can
be more aggressive during the first half of the race in Holland
and I will be trying a similar approach here to try and break
into the top six, which is still our objective. Sachsenring
is well suited to my riding style because you spend a lot
of time at full lean. I’ve had good results there in
the past with both the 250 and the two-stroke 500 so I hope
I can finally reproduce that on a MotoGP bike!”
FAUSTO GRESINI – TEAM MANAGER
“I hope that the German Grand Prix can be a turning
point for us because even though both our riders are showing
great potential we haven’t managed to turn that into
good results lately. The main objective for Sachsenring will
be firstly to secure good starting positions and then show
what we are capable of in the race. In Holland we saw a small
improvement from Nakano and I hope that Shinya can continue
with this positive trend. As far as Alex is concerned, the
only thing he has to do is take a calmer approach to the race
itself. He has shown on several occasions he has the potential
to do well so I hope the race at Assen can serve as experience.
In general we’ve got two tracks coming up, Sachsenring
and Laguna Seca, that suit our bikes. I’m happy with
the work we’ve done so far together with Honda, Bridgestone,
Nissin and all our partners – now it down to us to make
the most of what we have!”
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