Gresini duo feeling pressure in Germany
Added on Thursday, July 16th, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor
Gresini duo feeling pressure in Germany
Under-pressure Honda Gresini duo Toni Elias and Alex de Angelis will be expected to perform this weekend in Germany as doubts consider to circulate over their MotoGP futures.
Both riders are expected to be shown the exit door at Gresini at the end of the season, with 250cc champion Marco Simoncelli already confirmed with the team for next season and Hayate rider Marco Melandri widely tipped to make up the other half of the Honda team’s garage in 2010.
The Gresini pair have struggled to make any impression on the championship so far this year, despite enjoying a close relationship with then Honda factory team and having access to a factory-spec RC212V. Between them, de Angelis, who impressed last season and the highly rated Elias, back with Honda after a difficult stint with Alice Ducati, have managed just six top-ten finishes this season and stand in 14th and 13th position in the standings respectively.
And Elias concedes that he is feeling the pressure to get results, starting at Sachsenring this weekend.
“It is important that we have started to find the right way forward at this stage of the season because there is still a long way to go and perhaps if we had taken any longer it would be too late,” said the Spaniard. “We have had eight tough races but we’re starting to find the limits of this bike and we still have nine races left in which to push it to the maximum.
“To be honest I don’t like Sachsenring much but looking back I have raced there injured on three occasions so maybe that’s why I don’t have good memories or good results to reflect on! Last year could have been much better but it rained so hopefully this is the year my fortunes change in Germany.
“I stayed on in America for an extra day to go sightseeing in San Francisco, which was great fun, but after that I was straight home to train and get ready for another important race.”
Unlike Elias, de Angelis is more confident of his chances at in Germany but is under no illusions over the difficulty of the task ahead.
“I have had so many good results at Sachsenring in the past, just the kind of results we could do with right now,” he claimed “Unfortunately we made the wrong choice with the setting for the race at Laguna but there were a lot of positives about the weekend as a whole and we are looking to bring those to the fore in Germany.
“The German Grand Prix is definitely one of my favourites. I have a lot of affection for the Sachsenring circuit because I took my first pole there and I was on the podium every year from 2002 to 2007.
“The track is very technical, varied and without any long straights so it is important to have a good chassis set-up, more than a powerful engine. We’re going through a difficult phase right now but we won’t give up.”
