After a 3-week long hiatus from the circuits, the MotoGP paddock resumes its gladiatorial battles this weekend in Sachsenring. With almost nothing to choose between Valentino Rossi, Marc Marquez and Jorge Lorenzo, the 2016 campaign promises a battle royale. The Moto2 and Moto3 championship also has its own scraps to iron out. So heading into the German GP, we at Sportskeeda give you the lowdown.
The Track: On we go for a lap around the Sachsenring circuit, Firing down the long, long main straight and braking hard for a 2nd gear left-hand corner which is nearly 180 degrees, hitting close to 75kph. This is immediately followed by long left hander taken at 115kph.
The rider then switches over to the right for the Castrol Omega that is taken at 90kph. Then comes the most challenging part of the circuit, from turn 4 all the way to turn 10 is a series of left-hand corners, taken at speeds ranging from 115kph to 185kph.
Rounding turn 10 the rider flicks the bike right onto turn 11 and races down the hill before braking hard for turn 12 and turn 13 that are taken at 115kph and 100kph respectively and finally onto the main straight to complete the lap.
Moto3
Brad Binder had his best chance to extend his lead over Jorge Navarro in the last round in Assen. But it wasn’t to be for the South African, instead Francesco “Pecco” Bagnaia clawed his way to his maiden victory and in the process, rewrote the history books by recording Aspar Mahindra’s first victory, the first win by an Indian manufacturer.
Pecco remained in contention while Binder almost performed a Niklas Ajo, ironically at the same circuit. Navarro who was sidelined with injury resumes his dogfight with Binder in order to wrest the championship from the South African’s grasp.
German Watch: Philip Oetll is the sole German rider in the Moto3 grid
Moto2
Back in Assen history was once again rewritten, this time by Japanese rider Takaaki Nakagami. The Idemitsu Honda Racing Team Asia rider was the first Japanese rider in 6 years to win a Grand Prix in the Moto2 class.
The last Japanese winner was the late Shoya Tomizawa way back in 2010. Such was Nakagami’s domination that the championship regulars like Zarco, Rins, Luthi and Lowes had no answer. The Sachsenring will prove to be a challenge for the riders with its fast flowing corners.
German Watch: Jonas Folger, Sandro Cortese and Marcel Schrotter fly the German flag this weekend.
MotoGP
While everyone expected one of the Yamahas or Marc Marquez to sweep up the victory, Mother Nature had other ideas. A superhuman start by Colombian rider Yonny Hernandez meant that he found himself leading the race with Rossi, Lorenzo, Marquez, Pedrosa, Vinales, Dovizioso and Iannone breathing down his neck.
But the conditions worsened and soon the chasing pack thinned out with Lorenzo and Pedrosa dropping like stones and the others left eating Hernandez’ spray. The situation soon got to a point where Race Direction had to intervene because a number of riders started dropping like flies.
In Race 2, Hernandez’ heroics soon came to an end in a crash. But one surprise lead to another in the form of Australian rider Jack Miller who went on to win his maiden MotoGP race. That victory also history in the making because Miller’s triumph was the first for an independent team in 10 years, with the last win coming from Toni Elias in 2006!
German Watch: Stefan Bradl is the home hero for this weekend.
