2006 German motorcycle Grand Prix

The 2006 German motorcycle Grand Prix was the tenth round of the 2006 MotoGP Championship. It took place on the weekend of 14–16 July 2006 at the Sachsenring.

Germany  2006 German Grand Prix
Race details
Race 10 of 17 races in the
2006 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date16 July 2006
Official namebetandwin.com Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland[1][2][3]
LocationSachsenring
Course
  • Permanent racing facility
  • 3.671 km (2.281 mi)
MotoGP
Pole position
Rider Spain Dani Pedrosa
Time 1:21.815
Fastest lap
Rider Spain Dani Pedrosa
Time 1:23.355
Podium
First Italy Valentino Rossi
Second Italy Marco Melandri
Third United States Nicky Hayden
250cc
Pole position
Rider Spain Jorge Lorenzo
Time 1:25.073
Fastest lap
Rider San Marino Alex de Angelis
Time 1:25.284
Podium
First Japan Yuki Takahashi
Second San Marino Alex de Angelis
Third Spain Jorge Lorenzo
125cc
Pole position
Rider Czech Republic Lukáš Pešek
Time 1:27.064
Fastest lap
Rider Spain Álvaro Bautista
Time 1:27.519
Podium
First Italy Mattia Pasini
Second Spain Álvaro Bautista
Third Czech Republic Lukáš Pešek

MotoGP race report

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This race was most notable for the four-way battle for the win that happened throughout the race, as well as Rossi's victory from tenth on the grid.

After nine rounds, Nicky Hayden still leads the championship with 153 points. A rather distant second is rookie Dani Pedrosa with 127 and in third Valentino Rossi with 118, who has climbed up the order in a rather quick pace after early season mechanical problems and driver errors cost him quite some points.

On Saturday, Dani Pedrosa took pole position - his fourth and final of the season - with a time of 1:21.815. Lining alongside him in second is Kenny Roberts Jr., who took a surprise front row place by only being +0.092 seconds off the pace of Pedrosa - and teammate Nicky Hayden in third place. The second row of the grid consists out of Shinya Nakano on the Kawasaki in fourth, Loris Capirossi in fifth and Marco Melandri in sixth position. Rossi meanwhile only managed to qualify a lowly tenth and thus was down on the fourth row of the grid.[4][5] Another rookie - Casey Stoner - did not participate in the race due to a concussion he sustained after a crash earlier that day during the warm-up practice.[6][7]

All riders take off and do their usual warm-up lap before lining up in their respective grid slots. As the lights go out, Pedrosa has a great start and retains his lead going into the Coca-Cola Kurve (Turn 1) on the opening lap. Roberts Jr. retains his position, as does Hayden in third. Makoto Tamada meanwhile has also had a fantastic start, passing multiple riders from ninth to move up into fourth place. Capirossi and Melandri have swapped places, Melandri now being fifth and Capirossi sixth. At Turn 3, Capirossi then loses another place to John Hopkins and another one at the Castrol Omega (Turn 4) to a fast charging Rossi, demoting him to eighth place in just four corners. He is now ahead of Nakano - who had a bad start and lost a few places as well. Halfway into the lap, the top five have started to open up a slight gap back to sixth place Hopkins. Inside that group, Hayden is also opening up a slight gap to Roberts Jr, with Pedrosa harassing him all throughout the lap. At the Sachsen Kurve (Turn 13), Rossi makes a move on Hopkins for sixth by diving down his inside.[8] A similar move is also done by Hayden on both Roberts Jr. and Pedrosa at the same corner, making a very late lunge and taking the lead on the exit of the corner.[8]

On lap two, both Tamada and Melandri pass Roberts Jr. at the beginning and exit of the Coca-Cola Kurve, promoting both to third and fourth place. At the Sachsen Kurve, Melandri tries to pass Tamada for third but runs wide, allowing the Japanese to retake the place upon exit. This move also allows Roberts Jr. and Rossi to close right up.

Lap three and at the end of the start/finish straight, Melandri goes for a pass on Tamada again, this time at the entrance of the Coca-Cola Kurve. He goes up his inside and this time successfully takes third from him. Sixth place Rossi is still right behind the American, trying to pass him at the Sachsen Kurve but not being able to. Home hero Alex Hofmann meanwhile has retired from the race.

On lap four, Melandri sets the fastest lap of the race. Rossi this time manages to get past Roberts Jr. at the Sachsen Kurve, moving him up into fifth place.

Lap five and Pedrosa tries a move on teammate Hayden but has a moment going into the Coca-Cola Kurve, opting to stick behind him for the time being. Rossi has quickly closed the tiny gap to Tamada and is behind him all throughout the lap.

On lap six, Capirossi - who had regained the places he had lost earlier - is now right on the back of Roberts Jr. and tries to find a way past. The top six now consists out of Hayden, Pedrosa, Melandri, Tamada, Rossi and Roberts Jr..

As Hayden crosses the lap to start lap seven, it is Tamada who passes Melandri for third position at the start/finish straight, finalising the pass at the entrance of the Coca-Cola Kurve. Entering the Sachsen Kurve, Melandri tries to line up a pass by diving down the inside of Tamada but gets blocked and has to stay behind instead.

Lap eight and Melandri manages to take third from Tamada at the same corner where he tried to pass the Japanese rider one lap earlier, the Sachsen Kurve.

On lap nine, Tamada retries to take third by using the power of his Konica Minolta Honda and blast pass, only to run slightly wide upon entrance of the Coca-Cola Kurve and having to give back the position to Melandri. At the Sachsen Kurve, Melandri goes up the inside of Pedrosa and takes second, with Rossi doing likewise to Tamada for third. The Japanese tries to fight back at the Queckenberg Kurve (Turn 14), but has to slot in behind Rossi.

Lap ten and Rossi runs a bit wide exiting the Queckenberg Kurve, allowing Tamada to blast past the Camel Yamaha rider and take back third place at the start/finish straight.[8] At the Sachsen Kurve, Rossi makes a clean move down the inside of Tamada and retakes third.

On lap eleven, Melandri takes over the lead as he passes Hayden at the start/finish straight, entering the Coca-Cola Kurve.[8] Tamada tries to take third place back from Rossi but this time is not able to. Pedrosa then follows suit at Castrol Omega, taking a shorter line and going side by side with Hayden, exiting the corner ahead of him. At the Sachsen Kurve, Rossi then makes his move and passes Hayden for third. Roberts Jr. then tries to pass Tamada for fourth place at the Queckenberg Kurve but takes a line that is too tight, losing the front end and striking an unfortunate Tamada along with him into the gravel. The Japanese rider then grabs his leg, visibly shown in pain.[8][7]

Lap twelve and the lead group now consists out of four riders: Melandri, Pedrosa, Rossi and Hayden. Roberts Jr. is shown kneeling next to him, trying to ask him if he is okay.[8] The retirement of the two riders now moves up Capirossi into fifth and Nakano into sixth position. At the Sachsen Kurve, Rossi passes Pedrosa for second by diving down his inside.

On lap thirteen, Capirossi has managed to close the gap and is now right behind Hayden, making it a five-way battle for victory. At the Sachsen Kurve, Rossi overtakes Melandri and takes over the lead by going up his inside.[8] At Turn 9, Melandri makes a small mistake and allows Rossi to pull a slight gap.

Lap fifteen and Pedrosa overtakes Melandri as the Italian goes slightly wide and he takes a tighter line entering Castrol Omega, moving him up into second position.

On lap sixteen, Pedrosa and Melandri have slowly closed the gap to Rossi, opening up a small gap of their own to Hayden. No overtakes happened at the front.

Lap seventeen and the top four now consists out of Rossi, Pedrosa, Melandri and Hayden Fifth placed Capirossi is starting to lose connection to the top four by now.

On lap eighteen, the front is stable and no overtakes happened. Capirossi's gap to sixth place Nakano is +1.816 seconds.

Lap nineteen and Hayden's gap to Capirossi is now +1.248 seconds. Melandri closes up to Pedrosa and has a look up the inside of the Spaniard at the Sachsen Kurve, but stays behind for now.

On lap twenty, the front is still stable and no one has made any overtakes so far.

Lap twenty-one and Rossi's bike is now sliding a bit as the tyres start to wear for everyone. Pedrosa is still shadowing him in second. At the Sachsen Kurve, Melandri finally makes a move and passes Pedrosa on the inside for second position.

As Rossi crosses the line to start lap twenty-two, Hayden goes side by side with Pedrosa at the start/finish straight and tries to overtake him on the outside at the entrance of the Coca-Cola Kurve, failing to do so and having to settle for fourth.

On lap twenty-three, Melandri is all over the back of Rossi during the lap but is not able to make a move. No overtakes happen at the front.

Lap twenty-four and Pedrosa passes Melandri at the inside of the Coca-Coca Kurve, promoting him up into second place. At the Sachsen Kurve, Melandri takes back second position from Pedrosa. The Spaniard tries to retake it but decides to stay behind for now as they enter the Queckenberg Kurve.

On lap twenty-five, Pedrosa tries a move up the inside of Melandri by taking the shorter line at Castrol Omega, but gets blocked off by Melandri mid-corner, forcing him to back off.

Lap twenty-six and Pedrosa takes second from Melandri, this time executing to perfection the move he tried earlier on the Italian at Castrol Omega. At the Sachsen Kurve, Pedrosa runs wide and allows both Melandri and Hayden to overtake him, making him lose two positions in one corner.[8]

On lap twenty-seven, Rossi now has pulled a small gap back to Melandri, who himself has opened up a small gap to Hayden and Pedrosa. Melandri however catches up this small gap rather quickly.

Crossing the line to start lap twenty-eight, Melandri makes a very late lunge down the inside of Rossi to take over the lead at the front.[8] This has allowed the Repsol Honda duo of Hayden and Pedrosa to close up on the top two again. Melandri has pulled a small gap back to Rossi but closes it as soon as he enters the Sachsen Kurve - where he also thinks of a move up his inside but stays behind for now.

As Melandri crosses the line to start lap twenty-nine - the penultimate lap - Pedrosa goes side by side with his American teammate for second, Hayden then going a bit wide but somehow retaining third as he tries to overtake Rossi on the outside of the Coca-Cola Kurve but isn't able to.[8] Melandri has again pulled a slight gap to Rossi. Pedrosa then tries to take Hayden at Castrol Omega by going in with a tighter line, the Spaniard not being able to pass when Hayden closes the door and causing the pair to almost collide in the process. This has allowed Rossi and Pedrosa to form a big enough gap to make it a two-way fight for the lead. Rossi is now all over the back of Melandri and takes back the lead at the Sachsen Kurve, going up his inside.

The final lap - lap thirty - begins and Melandri tries to retake first place at the start/finish straight, Rossi blocking him off entering the Coca-Cola Kurve. This however has caused Rossi to have a slight moment but is able to retain the lead. Hayden then tries to form a pass on the outside of Melandri after he closed the gap to him again on the previous lap, the American not being able to as he now comes under pressure from Pedrosa again. Melandri is harassing Rossi all throughout the lap, Pedrosa doing likewise to Hayden. Exiting the fast right-handed Turn 12, Melandri tries to go up the inside of Rossi but the Italian holds on going into the long straight before the Sachsen Kurve. Melandri then tries a move around the outside of this corner, with Rossi blocking the inside off and forcing him all the way onto the kerb. Behind them, Pedrosa takes a wider line entering the Sachsen Kurve to have a better drive exiting it, allowing him to go side by side as the Repsol Honda pair enter the Queckenberg Kurve for the final time. Melandri tries once more to pass Rossi on the outside of the last turn, but Rossi once again relegates him to the outside, allowing him to cross the line and win the race - his fourth win of the season - with Melandri coming home in second place.[8][7] Behind them, it looks to be Pedrosa who has taken third from Hayden on the line as he exits the corner, but Hayden has held on and narrowly crosses the line ahead of the Spaniard in third, with Pedrosa finishing fourth. Further back, Capirossi, who was starting to be caught by Nakano, crosses the line fifth, Nakano in sixth.

On the parade lap, Rossi stops as the fans swarm the track to side around a happy Rossi, along with the marshalls and some of the press. One of the two cremembers put on a shirt of Marco Materazzi, the footballer who scored the crucial goal against France during the penalty shoot-out in the finals of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, which had concluded in Germany a week before the race.[7] Hayden also waves to the crowd.

Going onto the podium, Rossi was still wearing the shirt of Materazzi but took it off before appearing on the podium. However, he took the shirt with him and as the other two riders stand on the podium already, he puts the shirt back on as the audience gives him a loud applause and cheers.[8][9] He congratulates the other riders, then a crewmembers adjusts his shirt in the back. He then steps on the top step of the podium as Hermann Tomczyk hands the third-place trophy to Hayden, Jean-Pierre Mougin hands out the second-place trophy to Melandri and Georg Milbradt hands the winners trophy to Rossi. As he receives the trophy, the crowd once again jubilantly cheers as 'The Doctor' raises the trophy. Tomczyk also hands out the constructors trophy to the crew chief of the Camel Yamaha team. The Italian national anthem plays for Rossi and as it stops, the champagne gets handed out. As soon as Rossi receives it, he cheekily sprays one of the grid girls, as does Melandri.

Rossi's victory and Hayden's third place now means that Hayden extends his title hunt, with Rossi catching him ever so slowly. Hayden still sits first with 169 points, followed by Rossi who passes Pedrosa in the standings with 143 points. In third place is Pedrosa with 140 points.

MotoGP classification

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Pos. No. Rider Team Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 46   Valentino Rossi Camel Yamaha Team Yamaha 30 41:59.248 10 25
2 33   Marco Melandri Fortuna Honda Honda 30 +0.145 6 20
3 69   Nicky Hayden Repsol Honda Team Honda 30 +0.266 3 16
4 26   Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team Honda 30 +0.307 1 13
5 65   Loris Capirossi Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati 30 +8.764 5 11
6 56   Shinya Nakano Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki 30 +9.147 4 10
7 71   Chris Vermeulen Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 30 +16.608 13 9
8 15   Sete Gibernau Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati 30 +16.648 7 8
9 7   Carlos Checa Tech 3 Yamaha Yamaha 30 +17.097 11 7
10 21   John Hopkins Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 30 +17.786 8 6
11 24   Toni Elías Fortuna Honda Honda 30 +27.425 15 5
12 5   Colin Edwards Camel Yamaha Team Yamaha 30 +29.308 14 4
13 77   James Ellison Tech 3 Yamaha Yamaha 30 +1:02.029 17 3
14 30   José Luis Cardoso Pramac d'Antin MotoGP Ducati 30 +1:19.997 18 2
Ret 17   Randy de Puniet Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki 12 Retirement 12
Ret 6   Makoto Tamada Konica Minolta Honda Honda 10 Accident 9
Ret 10   Kenny Roberts Jr. Team Roberts KR211V 10 Accident 2
Ret 66   Alex Hofmann Pramac d'Antin MotoGP Ducati 2 Retirement 16
DNS 27   Casey Stoner Honda LCR Honda Did not start
Sources:[10][11][12]

250 cc classification

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Pos. No. Rider Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 55   Yuki Takahashi Honda 29 41:30.350 2 25
2 7   Alex de Angelis Aprilia 29 +0.058 5 20
3 48   Jorge Lorenzo Aprilia 29 +1.013 1 16
4 34   Andrea Dovizioso Honda 29 +4.021 8 13
5 80   Héctor Barberá Aprilia 29 +9.384 3 11
6 15   Roberto Locatelli Aprilia 29 +19.242 4 10
7 14   Anthony West Aprilia 29 +26.457 7 9
8 4   Hiroshi Aoyama KTM 29 +26.607 6 8
9 73   Shuhei Aoyama Honda 29 +26.741 10 7
10 50   Sylvain Guintoli Aprilia 29 +30.621 11 6
11 25   Alex Baldolini Aprilia 29 +44.754 12 5
12 9   Franco Battaini Aprilia 29 +45.063 18 4
13 54   Manuel Poggiali KTM 29 +48.793 13 3
14 96   Jakub Smrž Aprilia 29 +52.317 15 2
15 42   Aleix Espargaró Honda 29 +52.369 19 1
16 28   Dirk Heidolf Aprilia 29 +52.577 14
17 37   Fabricio Perren Honda 29 +1:00.025 20
18 16   Jules Cluzel Aprilia 29 +1:12.090 25
19 45   Dan Linfoot Honda 28 +1 lap 23
20 24   Jordi Carchano Aprilia 28 +1 lap 21
21 22   Luca Morelli Aprilia 28 +1 lap 26
22 78   Meik Kevin Minnerop Honda 28 +1 lap 30
23 17   Franz Aschenbrenner Honda 28 +1 lap 29
Ret 67   Nicklas Cajback Aprilia 21 Retirement 27
Ret 58   Marco Simoncelli Gilera 14 Accident 9
Ret 21   Arnaud Vincent Honda 11 Retirement 24
Ret 79   Andreas Mårtensson Aprilia 7 Accident 28
Ret 36   Martín Cárdenas Honda 5 Accident 16
Ret 23   Arturo Tizón Honda 4 Retirement 17
Ret 8   Andrea Ballerini Aprilia 3 Accident 22
WD 85   Alessio Palumbo Aprilia Withdrew
[13]

125 cc classification

edit
Pos. No. Rider Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 75   Mattia Pasini Aprilia 27 39:44.091 3 25
2 19   Álvaro Bautista Aprilia 27 +0.010 2 20
3 52   Lukáš Pešek Derbi 27 +0.111 1 16
4 55   Héctor Faubel Aprilia 27 +9.298 10 13
5 24   Simone Corsi Gilera 27 +9.372 9 11
6 1   Thomas Lüthi Honda 27 +10.570 13 10
7 18   Nicolás Terol Derbi 27 +11.835 5 9
8 36   Mika Kallio KTM 27 +11.905 4 8
9 6   Joan Olivé Aprilia 27 +26.017 16 7
10 33   Sergio Gadea Aprilia 27 +26.172 12 6
11 32   Fabrizio Lai Honda 27 +26.361 6 5
12 38   Bradley Smith Honda 27 +26.389 14 4
13 11   Sandro Cortese Honda 27 +26.480 11 3
14 14   Gábor Talmácsi Honda 27 +26.606 7 2
15 71   Tomoyoshi Koyama Malaguti 27 +27.068 15 1
16 54   Randy Krummenacher KTM 27 +27.192 21
17 8   Lorenzo Zanetti Aprilia 27 +46.145 23
18 17   Stefan Bradl KTM 27 +46.201 18
19 95   Georg Fröhlich Honda 27 +56.274 28
20 35   Raffaele De Rosa Aprilia 27 +56.549 25
21 26   Vincent Braillard Aprilia 27 +56.782 31
22 12   Federico Sandi Aprilia 27 +57.073 27
23 15   Michele Pirro Aprilia 27 +57.474 22
24 29   Andrea Iannone Aprilia 27 +57.707 20
25 7   Alexis Masbou Malaguti 27 +1:04.698 37
26 16   Michele Conti Honda 27 +1:04.793 32
27 45   Imre Tóth Aprilia 27 +1:07.754 19
28 43   Manuel Hernández Aprilia 27 +1:17.323 30
29 23   Lorenzo Baroni Honda 27 +1:17.507 26
30 21   Mateo Túnez Aprilia 27 +1:20.583 29
31 34   Esteve Rabat Honda 27 +1:24.772 39
32 98   Toni Wirsing Honda 26 +1 lap 42
Ret 61   Robin Lässer KTM 17 Retirement 36
Ret 44   Karel Abraham Aprilia 16 Retirement 33
Ret 13   Dino Lombardi Aprilia 13 Retirement 41
Ret 37   Joey Litjens Honda 11 Retirement 38
Ret 22   Pablo Nieto Aprilia 9 Retirement 8
Ret 83   Clément Dunikowski Honda 7 Retirement 40
Ret 53   Simone Grotzkyj Aprilia 6 Accident 35
Ret 72   Eric Hübsch Aprilia 5 Retirement 34
Ret 20   Roberto Tamburini Aprilia 4 Accident 24
Ret 10   Ángel Rodríguez Aprilia 1 Retirement 17
DNS 97   Joshua Sommer Aprilia Did not start
[14]

Championship standings after the race (MotoGP)

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Below are the standings for the top five riders and constructors after round ten has concluded.[15]

  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

edit
  1. ^ "2006 German MotoGP". Motorsportmagazine.com. 15 January 2018. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  2. ^ Mitchell, Malcolm. "2006 MotoGP Class (FIM Grand Prix World Championship) Programmes - The Motor Racing Programme Covers Project". Progcovers.com. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  3. ^ "Sachsenring | The Motor Racing Programme Covers Project". Archived from the original on 2018-05-16. Retrieved 2018-05-17.
  4. ^ "Pedrosa seizes Sachsenring pole, Rossi sunk". Crash. July 15, 2006.
  5. ^ "Pedrosa in front for German GP start". www.motorsport.com.
  6. ^ "Stoner out of German Grand Prix". Crash. July 16, 2006.
  7. ^ a b c d "Rossi wins German MotoGP". www.rediff.com.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Rossi beats Hondas for incredible Sachsenring win". Crash. July 16, 2006.
  9. ^ Sports, Dorna. "Rossi commemorates another Italian win in Germany | MotoGP". www.motogp.com.
  10. ^ "2006 German MotoGP - Motor Sport Magazine Database". Motorsportmagazine.com. 15 January 2018. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  11. ^ "2006 German Grand Prix : Classifications : MotoGP" (PDF). Resources.motogp.com. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  12. ^ "MOTORRAD GP DEUTSCHLAND · MotoGP Race Classification 2006". Motogp.com. Archived from the original on 9 September 2018. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  13. ^ "2006 German Grand Prix : Classifications : 250cc" (PDF). Resources.motogp.com. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  14. ^ "2006 German Grand Prix : Classifications : 125cc" (PDF). Resources.motogp.com. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  15. ^ "Standings" (PDF). resources.motogp.com. 2006. Retrieved 2019-08-22.


Previous race:
2006 British Grand Prix
FIM Grand Prix World Championship
2006 season
Next race:
2006 United States Grand Prix
Previous race:
2005 German Grand Prix
German motorcycle Grand Prix Next race:
2007 German Grand Prix