German MotoGP: Valentino Rossi takes pole at soaked Sachsenring

Valentino Rossi produced a stunning last lap to snatch pole position in atrocious conditions for tomorrow’s German MotoGP race at the Sachsenring. The 30-year-old Italian, looking to extend his nine-point advantage over Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo tomorrow, seized pole with a vintage display of wet weather riding on his final lap. Lorenzo looked like he was on course for his fifth pole position of the season when he clocked a best lap of 1.33.160 in the final stages. But Rossi then saved his best for last, the reigning world champion posting a best of 1.32.520 to deny Lorenzo by a massive 0.640s. It was Rossi’s third pole of the season and his fourth consecutive front row start and he said: “I’m really happy for this pole because it means I’ve already got more than in the whole of last year! Getting the pole position here is very important for the race because it’s such a hard place to overtake, so I’m really happy. We’ve done some good work today and my team has done a great job to set-up the bike. We’ve made a few small modifications, which have improved the feeling for me and I felt very confident today despite the bad conditions. At the end it was really very difficult and we were right on the limit because there was so much water on the track, but I knew I could push a bit more and the result was this great lap. I really hope it’s dry tomorrow – for the sake of everybody – but at the moment it’s doubtful so at least we can be confident that we’re well prepared in the wet as well.” Lorenzo was the only rider to lap inside of a second of Rossi with third placed Casey Stoner a massive 1.239s adrift of the top spot. Stoner only did 19 laps to conserve his energy ahead of tomorrow’s 30-lap clash, but Lorenzo was relieved as he struggled less with the right shoulder and foot injuries that he suffered in qualifying crashes at Laguna Seca earlier this month. The Spaniard said: “Yesterday I was quite worried about my injuries but I am happy to say that today I feel a lot better and I was able to ride much more strongly and brake much later. I was really fast in the dry this morning and then this afternoon I did a lot of consistent laps, improving all the time, which is very good because often I struggle in the wet. At the end it was very easy to crash so I didn’t want to push too much or take too many chances, it was important to be careful! Second place is very good and I’m happy about the work we’ve done. I hope I feel even better tomorrow for the race and of course that the weather is a bit better too.” Today’s session was run in treacherous conditions, with several riders crashing out. Turn 7 turned out to be the most perilous corner, with Randy de Puniet, Marco Melandri and Toni Elias all crashing out. The worst and most bizarre incident though involved Ducati duo Nicky Hayden and Niccolo Canepa. Hayden high-sided as he pushed to try and claim his first front row of the season. But as he flew through the air, his body slammed into the luckless Canepa, who had already crashed earlier in the session.

 

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