Ducati Team riders Nicky Hayden, Valentino Rossi hoping to improve at Sachsenring – MotoGP news
Ducati Team riders Nicky Hayden and Valentino Rossi are fighting to improve at Sachsenring after the two practice sessions of the eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland.
Hayden was better than teammate Rossi to score a fourth and sixth place in first and second free practice sessions respectively. Hayden’s teammate, Valentino Rossi was struggling to improve his pace with the Ducati GP11.1.
Hayden said, “We had good, stable weather all day for the first time in a long time, which makes testing things quite a bit easier. This morning we had a really good session. I came out of the gate strong like you’re supposed to and stayed in the top five
for most of the time.”
Hayden claimed that the first day of practice was not a fruitless day for the team. The American rider improved his pace with every little tweak in the setup using the same compound tyres throughout the two practice sessions.
The American rider did manage to shred some seconds from his morning practice laps but the task was hard to accomplish. Though they tried some changes which provided a better ride feel but the time was too short for further testing. They will work overnight
to come up with something better for the second practice day.
In the morning session, Valentino Rossi faced a crash tumbling into the run off gravel and ended with cuts on his right elbow but suffered no severe injuries. Later in the session, he was trying to tune his GP11.1 for better compatibility with the Sachsenring
demands.
Rossi said, “This morning’s crash caused a hole in my right arm that looks like a little anatomy lesson because you can see inside as far as the muscle, but I also took a hit on my shoulder - the right one, which was operated on - and now it hurts a little.”
Let’s see how both the Ducati team riders manage to fare on the second practice day for the German Grand Prix.
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