English
Italiano
Where were we? A bit of review is in order after two weekends of the mountain, the seaside, the lake or the more mundane city. The MotoGP calendar in this first part of summer aims for relaxation and, after the Sachsenring round, there will be a month long break before a busy August, with the Austria-Czech Republic one-two.
We’re getting a bit ahead of ourselves, though. First, let’s think about the championship situation. Marquez, after Assen, is running away out front with 145 points, 24 ahead of Lorenzo, who seemed like a ghost in the Netherlands, and 42 points ahead of Rossi, who crashed.
There are still 10 races left and 250 points up for grabs, but the little devil’s bounty is the kind that leads to restful nights of sound sleep, despite the July heat. Especially if you consider that on Sunday the race will be in Germany, practically a Honda colony.
The numbers are clear: on the Sachsenring, Honda has won from 2010: first a hat trick by Pedrosa, then another for Marquez. As if that were not enough, from the same year, Marc has always won in Saxony. He began with the 125, then two victories in Moto2 and then, as already mentioned, three in MotoGP.
It would seem that the opponents will be guaranteed a headache. Also because the Yamahas, which are chasing down the leader, desperately need to get ahead of Marquez if they want to turn the tables.
Valentino, despite his Dutch ‘zero’, proved to be fast and in good form, although good luck (see Mugello) has not always been on his side. The enterprise is within the Doctor’s reach, but it will need to be achieved step by step, partly on unfamiliar terrain.
Like the Sachsenring, where he has not won since 2009. There is a good feeling with the Yamaha. Even in testing he is able to be more incisive than in the past, and then there is experience, which he has in spades.
And this is a quality that Lorenzo is not lacking either, who must redeem himself and get back on track quickly after the dark weekend at Assen. Not that the German track is exactly the best for the Majorcan, (he has never won there in his career), but he cannot afford to lose any more points.
And then there are the Ducatis, always expected to have something up their sleeves. Stoner tested the GP16 at Misano and said that he found a few solutions that work, a comment confirmed by Dall’Igna. Sunday will be the litmus test.
We have waited a bit to see the MotoGP bikes back on the track, but it should have been worth the wait.
