Ducati confident as Germany arrives

Tuesday, 13 July 2010

Nicky Hayden and Casey Stoner are looking forward to this weekend’s eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland at Sachsenring, a track they both enjoy riding on.

Sachsenring’s technical details place plenty of demands on the MotoGP riders and this weekend will be no different as the Ducati Team prepare to tackle the German circuit. It is a track that Nicky Hayden and Casey Stoner have achieved notable results at in the past, and the layout is one which both riders enjoy a great deal.

The duo head into the eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland in confident moods this weekend, each motivated to continued improving in their respective 2010 campaigns. For Hayden, who was on the podium four times at Sachsenring between 2004 and 2007, there are multiple aspects of the layout he admires.

“It is a very short lap at Sachsenring and the first part of it is very tight and technical, with probably the slowest run of corners on the whole calendar. Turns 1, 2, 3 and 4 are all in first gear – it’s like a car park!” said Hayden. “The back section is really fast though, with one of the coolest corners in MotoGP, which we call the ‘Waterfall’ – you arrive in fifth gear and nosedive into a blind corner. You have to be decisive there or you can easily lose a few tenths.”

“It is a track I like a lot and on paper it is one of the best on the calendar for me. I really like left-hand corners and this track is full of them, so it is also important that we have dual compound tyres here,” he added.

Team-mate Stoner is also an admirer of the venue, at which he took his first World Championship podium in the 125cc class in 2003 and was victorious at in MotoGP in 2008. The 24 year-old is also pleased with how his Desmosedici GP10 is coming along, following back-to-back podiums in the last two rounds.

“We have always had pretty good races at Sachsenring, I got my first-ever podium there and I’m definitely looking forward to it,” he said. “We’re a little more confident with the bike, everything has worked well enough in the last three races and we just need to find a bit more speed – just a few tenths of a second. We have to try a few different things to get some grip without losing the good feeling we have with the bike at the moment.”

Discussing the specific requirements for the German track, Stoner continued: “You definitely need good side grip at Sachsenring because through a lot of those long corners you need to keep the gas open as long as possible. Also when you come over the top at turn 12 the rear gets very light and wants to wriggle around, so you really need some traction over the top there.”

“I’m looking forward to the next race because if we can find a good set-up it can give us the opportunity to do well. I want to put some good results together and both myself and the team will be working hard and giving 100% to get them,” concluded Stoner.