Toseland 11th in German wash-out
Added on Monday, July 14th, 2008 by Carole Nash Editor
Toseland 11th in German wash-out
Britain’s James Toseland continued his run of weak form as he finished 11th in the rain-lashed MotoGP, held at Sachsenring, Germany today.
Toseland, racing in the wet for the first time in MotoGP, started well as he raced to 5th place on lap one. But as Pedrosa carved out a healthy gap at the front, the Yorkshireman was gradually overtaken and lost touch with the main group, eventually being lapped by race winner Casey Stoner.
Afterwards, Toseland expressed his frustrations but remained upbeat.
“That was my first wet MotoGP race and I’ve got to admit that while I feel I’ve learned a lot,” said the reigning WSB champion. “I got an unbelievable start and at the first corner I was fifth and nearly took fourth.
“I thought I was in business but pretty much straightaway I knew it was going to be difficult to try and go away with the leading group. I had a couple of moments on the opening lap and I started losing places quite quickly.
“The frustrating thing was I couldn’t do anything to respond. I didn’t want to push too hard because I’d seen Jorge Lorenzo crash in front of me, so I knew I wasn’t the only one struggling for rear grip. I think that coupled with a lack of experience of riding this bike in the rain made it tough. I kind of just got stuck at the pace I was running and couldn’t really go any faster.
“I’m not going to blame anybody because I’m having a bit of a bad period but a positive from the weekend is I feel we have taken some big strides with the set-up of the bike. I was only half-a-second off the front row and I was fourth in the warm-up, so it has not been a bad weekend.
“We have eliminated a lot of problems and the team has done a great job, so I am looking forward to getting back closer to where I know I am capable of being and the team is capable of being at Laguna Seca. It is a track I know well, and I go there in a positive frame of mind as always despite having this tough run.”
