Sunday, 14 July 2013
Yamaha Factory Racing’s Valentino Rossi was back on the Sachsenring podium on Sunday, with a third place finish at the eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland.
It was the Italian’s first podium result in Germany since he won the race there in 2009 and the Round 8 performance by the nine-time World Champion continued his recent resurgence in form. Starting from third on the grid, the Italian took the hole shot into Turn 1 and led local rider Stefan Bradl on the first lap. As Rossi struggled to find grip from the rear tyre, Bradl was able to pass at Turn 12.
Pole man Marc Marquez came through for the lead, but Rossi was able to pick up the pace again with 22 laps to go, retaking Bradl for second. Tyre wear later came into play and Rossi was passed by Cal Crutchlow, meaning it was a second successive podium finish but not quite enough to challenge for another victory.
“It's a good result,” Rossi began. “To be on the podium is always a good result, but I expected something more and to have a better race. The first ten laps were not so bad but later I started to have problems and it was too difficult to turn the bike; especially on the left I was sliding too much.
“We have to work to try and make another step to stay with the top guys. Next we will have Laguna, a very special track, and we will try to have better results there. We are five very fast riders and we are closer now because unfortunately Dani (Pedrosa) and Jorge (Lorenzo) are injured and we have another race next week.
“If I want to fight for the championship, I have to go faster and I have to be constantly faster, so I have to make another step.”
The result puts Rossi on 101 championship points, six behind Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Crutchlow in fourth. His teammate Jorge Lorenzo now sits in third position in the championship on 127 points, having missed the race through injury.
0 commentaires:
Enregistrer un commentaire