German MotoGP: James Toseland ‘gutted’ with 14th

James Toseland admitted he was ‘gutted’ to have qualified down in a lowly 14th place at a rain-lashed Sachsenring today. The British rider finishd just 0.4s off the top six a qualifying session for the German MotoGP race run in treacherous conditions that at times resembled a monsoon. Toseland shrugged off a small crash at the third corner in this morning’s final practice session to clock a best lap of 1.35.005, but it left him languishing down on the fifth row of the grid, despite being 0.4s off Randy de Puniet in sixth. The 28-year-old said: ““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 seven is really frustrating. We kept one session 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 taken the edge off my tyre and I couldn’t go any quicker. So instead of sitting here in seventh with a big smile on my face and feeling confident of a good result, I’m 14th and that makes it a tough race with it being so hard to overtake. 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 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.”

 

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