Pedrosa says Sachsenring layout will help him

The Honda rider finished eighth in his first MotoGP start for six weeks at the Italian Grand Prix, having been sidelined by a broken collarbone following a clash with Marco Simoncelli.

The Spaniard is by no means fully fit, but he remains confident of further progress at the Sachsenring - where he believes the number of left hand corners will help compensate for his injuries.

"Contrary to Mugello, Germany is almost all left hand corners and this must help me," Pedrosa explained.

"Mugello was good because after a long time without racing, I saw that I haven't lost the ability to go fast. I have to regain fitness and this week I have worked hard."

Pedrosa also admitted he was looking forward to racing again at the Sachsenring, a circuit he has run well at in the past - winning here in 2007 and more recently with a convincing victory in 2010.

"I've always had very good races at Sachsenring and it's good to get to a track where you know you can do well.

"Last year, we had a great race there and hopefully we can do a good job again during practices, hope nothing goes wrong and come out with a good chance for the race".

Despite his injury lay-off Pedrosa currently lies seventh in the overall standings, five points behind Yamaha's Ben Spies.