MotoGP – The MotoGP German Grand Prix turn-based –

The MotoGP German Grand Prix lap by lap

MotoGP - The MotoGP German Grand Prix turn-based -

After two wins in a row, Stoner turns 100% again: dominating in practice, the fastest Aussie in the world displays a newfound symbiosis with his bike and his tires. Can Rossi, Pedrosa and others keep up with his pace? ? Round by round !

From their arrival on the "turnstile" of the Sachsenring, the stars of the Continental Circus had to resolve to submit to the law of one man: Casey Stoner !

Renewing this extraordinary confidence in the handlebars which propelled him to world champion last year, the "pearl" from Ducati set the pace from the first tests: despite a crash on Friday afternoon, the n ° 1 established the new track record of 1’21.582, three tenths faster than Dani Pedrosa’s pole in 2006 !

Behind the Australian, the surprising Alex de Angelis continues to impress by setting the second best time during the two sessions on Friday! Colin Edwards confirms his current good form by climbing on the podium on this first day, while Randy shows his newfound confidence with his RCV212 by pointing in the top 10.

During the only qualifying session on Saturday, the reigning world champion added another layer by placing himself beyond the reach of his rivals: thanks to an impressive 1’21.067, Stoner relegated the 2006 record pole of Pedrosa to more than eight tenths (!), making all the attempts of the Spanish in the waltz of the qualifying tires futile !

Zoom on…

Ducati and Stoner : if the Australian world champion has returned to the top, the other Ducati riders are still flirting with the depths of the ranking … Tired of these poor performances, the house of Bologna has just put an end to the contract which bound it for two years to Marco Melandri, who is already approaching Kawasaki and his ex-team for 2009! For his part, Elias is summoned to put a little of his own: Sete Gibernau having turned less than four tenths of Stoner’s time at Mugello during a recent race simulation, the Reds no longer want to hear that the GP8 is irrelevant…

Failing in second place, the HRC official precedes Edwards, Dovizioso, Lorenzo, De Puniet, Rossi and Hayden, while Sylvain Guintoli will start from 15th position on the grid.

The race !

Departure : After his show of strength during practice, Casey Stoner slightly lost his smile when taking his place on the starting line: the vagaries of the German weather completely reshuffle the cards and the MotoGP race will take place in the pouring rain! Under these conditions, the hierarchy could well be shaken up and the correction that Stoner planned to put to his opponents compromised….

Ignoring all these considerations, Pedrosa had the best start ahead of Dovizioso, Edwards, Stoner, Toseland, Rossi, De Puniet and Guintoli! No.1 passes Colin Edwards who has widened, while Rossi and De Puniet fight for fifth place !

2nd and 3rd rounds : Dani Pedrosa is already two seconds ahead of Dovizioso, who is immediately overtaken by a Stoner who sensed the threat. Rossi passed in stride Toseland and Lorenzo, then left to attack his ex-teammate Edwards. Just behind, Randy de Puniet and Alex de Angelis pass James Toseland.

Pedrosa leads in front of Casey Stoner with the fastest lap in the race, while his compatriot Jorge Lorenzo falls violently on the go-around. Stoner, Dovizioso, Edwards and Rossi follow little Spanish Asimo with already five seconds behind the official Honda…

4th, 5th and 6th rounds : Anthony West passes Randy de Puniet while the drivers of the star manufacturers in the category blow hot and cold: Pedrosa is first with nearly six seconds, his teammate is surprisingly last, Stoner secures his second place and Melandri is penultimate ! As for the Doctor, he gradually returns to the Yamaha Tech 3 from Edwards.

Drama: While he had a considerable lead, Pedrosa loses the front in a downhill right and must give up! Stoner takes the reins of the event ahead of Dovizioso, Edwards, Rossi, Vermeulen, de Angelis, West and Randy de Puniet.

7th, 8th and 9th rounds : The doctor tries to treat his ex-teammate at the first turn, but n ° 46 cautiously gives up his hand … until the next lap where he wins in a beautiful way! Nicky Hayden stopped in his box: there is fire at the HRC! Sylvain fights with the manner in the middle of the peloton.

From the next lap, n ° 46 made the same attack on Dovizioso and passed second! Edwards imitates his boyfriend and in turn passes the Italian of the JIR team. As incredible as it may seem, it was Marco Melandri who set the fastest lap in the race with an impressive 1’35.5 !

10th and 11th laps : Chris Vermeulen comes back and in turn passes Dovizioso who lost three places in two laps: the "wet magician" seems very comfortable with his Suzuki GSV-R! In front, Casey Stoner is now almost three seconds ahead, but his rival’s Yamaha is slowly nibbling away its delay thanks to a series of very fast lap times. !

Marco Melandri makes a mistake, while Vermeulen passes Edwards’ Yamaha! The reigning world champion reacted when he saw the recovery of his rival and took back a few tenths. Sylvain Guintoli has his best race of the season and is in seventh place !

12th and 13th rounds : Casey Stoner turns like a metronome in front of Valentino Rossi, Chris Vermeulen – which turns faster than n ° 46 -, Alex de Angelis, Colin Edwards, Andrea Dovizioso, Sylvain Guintoli, Loris Capirossi and Randy de Puniet.

Nicky Hayden left his box in 14th place: frustrating after promising practice and warm up !

14th, 15th, 16th and 17th laps : Stoner’s Ducati continues to fly over the debates thanks to a series of extremely fast lap times: he now has 4.2 seconds ahead of Valentino Rossi … himself threatened by Chris Vermeulen !

18th and 19th laps : Rossi and Stoner exchange lap records: each time the Italian tries to come back, the Australian responds immediately by setting a lower time !

The two men still precede Chris Vermeulen, slightly off the hook in front of Angelis and Colin Edwards … who made a mistake in the very fast left downhill: fortunately, the pilot got up unscathed after his big slip.

20th and 21st laps : The fall of the Texan benefits Sylvain Guintoli who is now in sixth position behind Andrea Dovizioso! Chris Vermeulen and Alex de Angelis continue their assists for third place, while just like in practice, James Toseland is in last place: sad weekend for the Tech 3 team…

22nd, 23rd and 24th laps : Casey Stoner is now more than five seconds ahead of Rossi and eight seconds ahead of Vermeulen and De Angelis, vying for the podium! The Doctor runs in the same lap times as the leading man, but his start from the third row and the many overtaking to climb back up were enough for Stoner to forge a gap that would seem impossible to close..

Stoner and Rossi arrive behind Toni Elias and James Toseland to whom they will put a lap: astonishment, the Antin rider refuses to line up despite the blue flags warning him of the arrival of the Yamaha rider: Rossi is forced to take risks to overtake Elias who brakes in the middle of the track and loses a lot of time in the maneuver! The Italian expresses his displeasure with an eloquent arm sign…

25th, 26th and 27th and 28th laps : Casey Stoner takes advantage of his lead to go for his third victory in a row and the first for Ducati – and Bridgestone – on German soil! Chris Vermeulen and Alex de Angelis are still fighting for their first podium of the season: the two young drivers demonstrate their skills as balancing act in these precarious conditions !

Last round : Stoner completed the last lap in front of Valentino Rossi, Chris Vermeulen and Alex de Angelis: it was a real drop for Michelin who only appeared in fifth place! Sylvain Guintoli finished in magnificent sixth, while Loris Capirossi – a fine fox! – returned to the exhausts of Randy de Puniet’s RCV: he passed n ° 14 on the finish line! As the leaders congratulate each other, Randy shakes hands with the veteran Italy who once again proved his finisher skills !

In the championship, Valentino Rossi recovers the lead of the standings thanks to his second position and the fall of Dani Pedrosa, who is now 16 points behind the Italian star. But it is especially Casey Stoner who achieves a good operation by coming back to four points of Pedrosa thanks to this fourth victory. !

Jorge Lorenzo is relegated to 78 points behind the leader with his new fall: "fortunately" for the Spaniard, Colin Edwards, who was behind him, also made a mistake. Next meeting next week at Laguna Seca, where only the leaders of MotoGP will challenge each other on the track of Uncle Sam !

They are explained:

Casey Stoner (1st) : "I saw Dani walk away and I thought "too bad", I surely wouldn’t have been able to go that fast then. We used hard gums which took a long time to heat up. Then I saw Dani leave and roll in the gravel … Given his record on a wet track, he was doing really well until this moment! Then it was just a matter of consolidating my small lead lap after lap. We had a harder rubber on the left flank and I had a few scares during the race. Thank you for everything to my team, it’s really good to come back a little more in the championship"…

Valentino Rossi (2nd) : "It’s a positive result for me, because I’m at the top of the table again. Second place is not a bad result considering the condition of the track today. It was fun to ride in bad conditions, but we lost a lot of time at the start starting from the third row. I saw Dani in the gravel, then tried to come back to Casey, but it was not possible. I’m happy because I was fast until the end !"

Chris Vermeulen (3rd) : "We had a bad qualifying session yesterday. Starting from the fifth row complicated things for us, there was a lot of splashing water. Like Casey, we used a harder and harder to heat gum. I couldn’t have caught those two, they were too fast for me today! I am very happy to be on the podium again !"

MotoGP race classification – Sachsenring

1- C. STONER 6- S. GUINTOLI 11- J. TOSELAND
2- V. ROSSI 7- L. CAPIROSSI 12- T. ELIAS
3- C. VERMEULEN 8- R. DE PUNIET 13- N. HAYDEN
4- A. DE ANGELIS 9- S. NAKANO
5- A. DOVIZIOSO 10- A. WEST

Alexandre BARDIN – Photos DR

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