MotoGP news
Rossi retakes championship lead
13 July 2008Valentino Rossi took the runner-up spot in the German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring today and moved back to the top of the championship, after Dani Pedrosa crashed out of the lead on lap five. Rossi's Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo was another victim of the first fully wet race of the season, sliding out of the race on the third lap.
This morning's practice was run on a damp track but the weather worsened through the middle part of the day and the MotoGP race began in heavy rain. Rossi, starting from seventh on the grid, was caught up in the first lap confusion and lost some time but then made up two places on the second lap, before being elevated to fourth when Pedrosa went down. In the next few laps the Italian passed first fellow Yamaha rider Colin Edwards and then Andrea Dovizioso, which left him in second behind Casey Stoner. Rossi did his best to close the gap to the Australian but with the pair clocking similar lap times he was unable to make any headway into a deficit of more than three seconds, settling for second place and 20 points. Chris Vermeulen loomed behind him at mid-race distance but Rossi's M1 and his Bridgestone tyres were working well in the wet and he was able to step up the pace somewhat, eventually crossed the line 3.708 seconds behind Stoner and more than 14 ahead of third-placed Vermeulen.
Today's result sees Rossi back at the top of the standings, 16 points clear of Pedrosa and 20 ahead of Stoner, whilst Lorenzo holds on to fourth despite taking no points today. The MotoGP paddock now packs up and makes the transatlantic trip to California for the US Grand Prix at Laguna Seca in a week's time.
"I'm really happy with this result, even if racing in the rain today wasn't quite as much fun as I've had in some of my past races here!" exclaimed Rossi. "For the championship this is very, very important; I made a mistake last week in Assen and today Dani did the same. It's unlucky but this is racing and now we are back in front and this is a very good feeling. Dani is tough and we know he will be back fighting at the front, but sincerely at the moment we need to think about how to catch Casey because he has been very fast now for a few races. Once again here we lost some time during the practice trying to find the right setting and we can't afford to keep doing this. Today we started from the third row and this meant that I had to deal with some confusion at the start and lost some time on the front riders. By the time I got behind Casey my M1 was working very well and I had very good grip with my Bridgestone rain tyres; I felt very confident and I tried hard to push but there was no way to catch him at that stage, so our aim must be to start at the front from now on. Thanks to all my team and engineers; now we have to try to extend this lead in Laguna."
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