Yamaha Factory Racing riders Ben Spies and Jorge Lorenzo move to Sachsenring this week for the Grand Prix of Germany, the second of three consecutive race weekends. Championship leader Lorenzo will be looking to make up for last weekend’s disastrous Assen TT. He was taken out on the first corner on lap one of the race, destroying his 25 point advantage over Casey Stoner and leaving him with a sprained ankle. Lorenzo has yet to take a victory at the Sachsenring circuit but has finished in second place for the last three consecutive years.

Fellow Yamaha Factory rider Spies will be hoping this weekend will finally see an end to his run of bad luck. The Texan’s return to form over the last two races has been dogged by tyres issues, preventing at least two potential podium finishes. Spies managed a respectable eighth on his first visit to the Sachsenring circuit in 2010 and fifth last year.

Jorge Lorenzo

“Assen was a disaster for us, we worked very hard to build up the Championship lead which unfortunately was lost on the first corner. Anyway, now we start again at the same points as Casey. I haven’t won a race at Sachsenring but have had good battles there and always finished on the podium. That is our goal this weekend, and if possible to fight for the victory. My ankle is quite sore but luckily there is nothing broken.”

Ben Spies

“We’re really hoping our bad luck is over now and we can realize our full potential this weekend. I’m feeling really confident with the bike and the team has been delivering a great set up for me so we know we can fight at the front. A weekend without any issues would be great so we can just focus on riding the bike!”

Wilco Zeelenberg - Yamaha Factory Racing Team Manager

“After a very tough weekend in Assen we are quite happy to race immediately again. For Jorge it’s good to be able to get straight back on the bike to fight back as quickly as possible. We need to erase Assen and move on. We’re still fast and we are confident we could have fought for victory there so we take that with us.”

Massimo Meregalli - Yamaha Factory Racing Team Director

“Assen was definitely not the weekend we planned. Unfortunately sometimes these things happen in racing. Now we move forward to Sachsenring confident that both Jorge and Ben can perform well. The M1 has worked well at every circuit so far this year so it shouldn’t be any different in Germany.”

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