Sachsenring MotoGP: James Toseland 11th in tough German clash

British rider James Toseland had a tough wet MotoGP debut at the Sachsenring today as he got lapped on his way to a lowly 11th place finish.

The Tech 3 Yamaha rider looked to be capable of mounting a genuine threat when he surged from 11th to fifth at the first corner.

But he quickly encountered severe rear grip issues with his wet weather rear Michelin rear tyre and started to plummet back down the field.

Within four laps he had dropped back down to 14th and he said: “That was my first wet MotoGP race and I’ve got to admit that while I feel I’ve learned a lot, it was a difficult afternoon. I got an unbelievable start and at the first corner I was fifth and nearly took fourth. I thought I was in business but pretty much straightaway I knew it was going to be difficult to try and go away with the leading group. I had a couple of moments on the opening lap and I started losing places. The frustrating thing was I couldn’t do anything to respond. I didn’t want to push too hard because I’d seen Jorge Lorenzo crash in front of me, so I knew I wasn’t the only one struggling for rear grip. I think that coupled with a lack of experience of riding this bike in the rain made it tough. I kind of just got stuck at the pace I was running and couldn’t really go any faster. I’m not going to blame anybody because I’m having a bit of a bad period but a positive from the weekend is I feel we have taken some big strides with the set-up of the bike. I was only half-a-second off the front row and I was fourth in the warm-up, so it has not been a bad weekend.”