German GP: Gresini Racing race report

SEASON-BEST RESULTS FOR DE ANGELIS AND ELIAS AT SACHSENRING

San Carlo Honda Gresini team riders Alex de Angelis and Toni Elias scored their best results of the season so far in the Grand Prix of Germany, crossing the line in fifth and sixth place respectively at a dry and partly sunny Sachsenring. For De Angelis the position was confirmation of his potential in any conditions, having qualified fifth in the wet yesterday, whilst a top six for Elias was more than the team could have dreamed when he lined up in last place on the starting grid.

De Angelis made a good start to stay in touch with the leaders into the tight and tricky first turn as a group of riders rubbed fairings behind him, losing just one place to Andrea Dovizioso but staying close to the Italian over the early laps. On lap seven the satellite rider made a satisfying pass on his factory colleague and was never troubled again as he opened out a substantial gap on the rest of the field.

Whilst De Angelis rode virtually alone for the rest of the race, behind him his team-mate Elias had an entirely different task -- the Spaniard passing nine riders on the opening ten laps. A protracted battle with Marco Melandri ensued but Elias came out on top, making his move with four laps to go and repeating his season-best result of sixth from Laguna Seca two weeks ago.

Alex De Angelis (5th): "After showing my pace in the wet during qualifying yesterday I knew I could go fast in the dry as well and that proved to be the case. Obviously this is a circuit I like a lot but I was also fast in practice at Laguna Seca - unfortunately we had a technical problem there and I wasn't able to back it up with a good result. This time it was nice to carry my form through to Sunday and to stay close to the guys at the front for the first time this season. I really enjoyed attacking and passing (Andrea) Dovizioso, it was a great feeling. This is the result we have been looking for -- we have made some important technical progress and I think that at Donington, a circuit I like with its fast corners, I can produce a similar result."

Toni Elias (6th): "To be honest I was expecting a battle just to finish in the top ten today but it ended up being much better than I could have imagined! It was a tough race and physically I still wasn't feeling very strong but I managed to get into my rhythm and start passing riders. Once I caught up with Marco I found it difficult to get past him and my stomach pains started. I thought, 'please no, not now!' I fought through the pain and over the last few laps we had a great battle, which I was able to win. I want to thank the team because they've been doing a great job and we are starting to see the fruit of our hard work. If we hadn't started from the back of the grid the result today could have been much better so that is something for us to think about for Donington, where we can go in high spirits."

Fausto Gresini - Team Manager: "We definitely did the maximum we could in this race and in general because the top four are difficult to beat for a lot of reasons. So this is a fantastic team result. I'm happy for Alex, who had an excellent race, and also for Toni who could not possible have done more from last place on the grid. The whole team is working so hard and we needed a result like this to give everybody a boost."

-credit: gresini racing