“Driving style will make a big difference”: MotoGP ™ is gearing up for the Sachsenring
The pre-event press conference opens the Liqui Moly Motorcycle Grand Prix Germany
Thursday 17th June 2021
The press conference before the event got the Liqui Moly Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland in motion on Thursday, with table leader Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) together with the closest challenger, compatriot and top rider of the independent team Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing ), Ducati Lenovo Jack Miller from the team, the reigning world champion Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar), Maverick Viñales from Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP, the Catalan GP winner Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and the newly signed MotoGP ™ driver from 2022 Fabio Di Giannantonio, who is currently in the Moto2 ™ World Championship with Federal Oil Gresini Moto2.
Here are some important quotes:
Fabio Quartararo. Photo courtesy of Dorna.
Fabio Quartararo: “Catalunya was a strange breed. At Turn 1 my leather was completely open, I tried to put it back, but then my chest protection flew through, so yes, I did the last laps with the leather open. Then three hours later I got the penalty, I’d rather take it up than get upset, it doesn’t make any sense. Now we’re getting to a new track and we’re trying to work on a new system and yes, that happened in Barcelona.
“I think the bike works well on all tracks. This is a track that I’m not a big fan of, but we had great pace two years ago, but then I crashed on the first or second lap, but I think the bike is suitable for all tracks. I’m looking forward to it because if something bad happens in the previous race, it makes you want to go to the next race, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow. “
About Fabio Di Giannantonio, who is moving to MotoGP ™: “I think I haven’t done many races with Fabio in the past, but if you look at his style, he’s really smooth and precise. This is important for MotoGP ™. He will do well but it is important that he do his best this year. I was in the same situation a few years ago when I signed my contract for the Sachsenring and I was so excited, but the important thing is to stay focused until the end of the season. He will enjoy the first test and I wish him the best of luck on the first straight on the MotoGP ™ bike! “
Johann Zarco. Photo courtesy of Dorna.
Johann Zarco: “As always, I try to be neutral and positive. We know … or we hear from all the media that this is not the best track for the Ducati, but I totally disagree because we can have some good surprises and really with the experience and progress now with time and at I’m curious about this bike to see what feeling I will have on this track, that it is a very special one compared to all the others. But to be pretty happy back in Germany, just to go to Germany, to Northern Europe again to drive and be there. It’s pretty warm, but the paddock is so tricky … something special on one side, the hospitality and a few other trucks on the other side of the paddock. I like all of this and just hope to enjoy this weekend and do great things to keep pushing in this championship that everything is going well at the moment.
“As Jack said now, the bike is a lot easier than what he rode before, even when he finished fourth. That means we’ll have a step forward that can make you feel good on this track and for me it’s really something you need to understand on this track because we can think we might have to turn a lot, we can do that Don’t use your power, but in the end Marc always won here and it wasn’t always a Yamaha rider. Maybe the Yamaha is the best for cornering, but Marc has always shown that the V-engine wins here. So I try to take it that way and we have to start the weekend to really know what the potential is, but always with the positive attitude that it is possible to do well. “
Jack Miller. Photo courtesy of Dorna.
Jack Miller: “It is a special route for me in Germany. It’s awesome in Moto3 ™ but it’s tight on a GP bike but no it’s fun, it has its own unique character that’s nice because a lot of the tracks are pretty similar so it’s nice to have him have something left-field, literally left! Like you say I’m looking forward to the weekend, the last time we were here I think it was Dovi, me and Danilo had a nice little fight for 4, 5, 6 so it wasn’t that bad. Definitely excited to bring the GP21 here, it’s definitely a better package and I think we might be pretty surprised at how well it works here. The weather looks fantastic for the weekend and yes, 10 years! (since his Grand Prix debut).
“There are always routes that suit your bike better than others, but it’s about how you adapt your bike to the route. It’s not that bad here, the curves are not like on other routes where you have to make massive turns, you don’t change direction too much, it’s all in one direction. While Assen is another fish with a lot of changes of direction at high speed, we have two very different elements for our bike over the next two weekends, as I said, I’m very curious to see how the GP21 works in these conditions because it was definitely an improvement over what we rode here in 2019 and yes we have to keep working on it and hopefully we can do some of the non-Ducati circuits as we have done so far on some that are not that bad for a Ducati. “
Johanna Mir. Photo courtesy of Dorna.
Joan Mir: “This is a track that I always enjoy! Lots of left turns, yes, it’s something very special, the ups and downs and I think the Suzuki can fit in here quite well. In 2019 my feelings were pretty good, even though I wasn’t really strong. But yeah, I remembered fighting the Ducatis throughout the race so I enjoyed that. I expect to be competitive, to be strong, to try to fight for the podium and who knows, let’s try to get the win. “
About Fabio Di Giannantonio moving to MotoGP ™: “I’ve had a few fights with Fabio (Di Giannantonio) in Moto3 in the past and he’s always in a really good position on the bike, he’s pretty slick and yes, as Fabio (Quartararo) said, I think he will fit well on a MotoGP bike. You really have to be precise, and I think he is precise too. I wish him the best of luck because now the most important thing for him is to finish the season in the best possible way and then and then he will be very excited to try the MotoGP bike for the first time, which is always fantastic. “
Maverick Vinales. Photo courtesy of Dorna.
Outsider Viñales: “Actually I think we did a pretty good job in Catalonia, we tried to build a good weekend and we closed the gaps in the middle of the race but I ran out of tires and I couldn’t overtake Joan and I couldn’t move forward drive. ”so basically we’re trying to build trust. Here at the Sachsenring it’s a track that I really like, I really enjoy here and a track where we can be strong, so I really have a lot of confidence and we can do a good job.
“It took me a lot of laps (in the test) because after three bad races you need laps to understand and regain confidence. It went really well, we tried a lot of different things on the bike which is usually difficult to understand, but the Montmelo test was very positive. Everything we have learned there, we will try to implement on the Sachsenring, it is certainly one of the tracks on which the driving style makes a big difference, so we will try to be fast from FP1 onwards. “
Miguel Oliveira. Photo courtesy of Dorna.
Miguel Oliveira: “I’m confident, but as always with my feet on the ground. I think we still have to start the weekend and see the level here. I think our bike is much better suited to a lot of racetracks now and we’re not so worried when we’re racing that we’ve never tried this bike and yes. I’m of course motivated to be on the podium in a row and I’m looking forward to starting the weekend and seeing what we can do. “
Fabio Di Giannantonio. Photo courtesy of Dorna.
Fabio Di Giannantonio: “First of all, I’m happy to be here for the first time, so it’s pretty unusual for me. So, to be honest, I’m super happy, so excited to start right now, but we still have to focus really hard this year. The next year will definitely be something great for me, because I’ll be racing in MotoGP with the best riders in the world and also with the bike of my dreams, you know, the Ducati is something great for an Italian, so I’m really excited . But as I said, I really have to focus on this season. I want to get more podiums and more wins and get into MotoGP as well as possible and then try to do the best for this year. that is the main goal at the moment! “
That’s it from Thursday! Free practice begins on Friday morning before the MotoGP ™ kicks off on Sunday at 2:00 pm (GMT +2) in Germany.