Tech 3 battle through rain-soaked Sachsenring QP

The Tech 3 perspective from a soaking wet Sachsenring on Saturday at the Alice Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland.

Colin Edwards – 7th

“It was a bit of a struggle to be honest, so to be as high as seventh, I'm not going to complain too much. I thought we'd made a big step with the wet set-up yesterday but the rain was much harder this afternoon and the track temperature was a lot cooler. I knew two laps into it that I'd got no feeling from the rear. We made a couple of changes and the lap times were getting a bit better but each time I wanted to push the rear would just come round on me. The Bridgestone front rain tyre is just awesome and you can do what you want with it. If I could chop the bike in half and just ride the front around here it would be fantastic. But as soon as I load the rear tyre it comes round on me and picks me up. I want to push and go faster, but the faster I go the more load I'm generating and that just pushes the rear out even more. The balance isn't quite right because I feel like I'm riding well in the rain. Tomorrow is all about getting a good start with it being hard to over take. And the start pretty much determines which group you're going to be battling in. The new electronics I've got though are unbelievable. I don't want to curse myself but my starts have been phenomenal and I need to thank Yamaha because the new electronics have helped me massively.”

James Toseland - 14th

“I'm gutted. I felt like I was riding really well, so to come in and see myself four-tenths of sixth is hard to swallow. If I wasn't riding well and not putting in the effort I know I am, I wouldn't be so frustrated. I had my best feeling in the wet for a long time and I knew I was riding well, but each time I came across the line I was seeing P12 or P13. And then to find out I'm so close to a top six is really frustrating. We kept one set of tyres through the whole session and just as I did my quickest lap time the rain started coming again and there was a little bit more water. I'd used the best grip of my tyre and I couldn't go any quicker. So instead of sitting here in sixth or seventh with a big smile on my face and feeling confident of a good result, I'm fourteenth and that makes it a tough race with it being so hard to overtake. But my guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3 have done an amazing job to give me a good bike for the wet and build my confidence. We kept going softer with the set-up because the edge grip on the Bridgestone rain tyre is amazing. It will be a tough race with overtaking so difficult on this track, but as always I'll be giving it my all.”