Title holder Valentino Rossi knows he will have to repeat his recent form if he is to keep his rivals at bay in the race for the FIM MotoGP World Championship.
The Fiat Yamaha rider leads the championship standings from team-mate Jorge Lorenzo and Ducati Marlboro’s Casey Stoner. But Rossi knows he will have his work cut out at the Sachsenring after finishing second to Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa during the last round at Laguna Seca in America.
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Rossi said: “Thank goodness we’ve had some time to rest after the last two races because I was really quite tired after Laguna. The next two races are back to back and again it will be very hard, and it’s also a very important stage of the championship, the halfway point.” The Press Association
The current world champion, coming off a second and two first-place finishes, will also be searching for his 158th podium finish in Germany, to equal Giacomo Agostini’s all-time record.
“Sashenring isn’t one of my favourite tracks but I’ve had some great races there and generally it suits Yamaha well, which is good,” Rossi, who finished runner-up in Germany last year, said.
“We need another good result to keep our lead because our rivals are so strong and we can’t afford to make any mistakes.” Fox Sports
Rossi knows that his injured but ever-improving young title rivals Jorge Lorenzo, Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa will also each be fighting for glory at Sachsenring, where the Italian idol has won on three previous occasions in the top class.
Rossi’s team manager Davide Brivio, meanwhile, commented, “As always our first target is the podium and we’ve achieved this at all but one race this season so we will look to continue that trend. Last year it was very wet in Germany but we were able to take an important second place, which gave Valentino key points for his championship battle. This time we arrive in the lead but we have to maintain focus because these are two very important races before the summer break and it’s important to everyone that we go into the ‘holiday’ at the top.” MotoGP.com
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