Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa has topped the first MotoGP free practivce timesheet at the Sachsenring this morning, heading team-mate Casey Stoner by less than a tenth of a second with the still-hobbling Jorge Lorenzo in third place.
Pedrosa, who used the softer Bridgestone for most of the session, nipped into the lead with his final flying lap of 1'22.357 compared to Stoner's 1'22.444, set on lap 14 of 19 while Yamaha's Lorenzo was the thick end of three-tenths slower than his compatriot with a 1'22.647. Lorenzo attended yesterday's press conference on crutches and is limping around the pitlane after the Assen nerfing but is seems not to be slowing him down any.
Monster Yamaha's Andrea Dovizioso got the better of team-mate Cal Crutchlow with his last lap of the session and is six-tenths off the pace with the British rider a little over a tenth in arrears. Hector 'caravan' Barbera finds himself in sixth place and top Ducati ahead of Nicky Hayden on the factory Desmosedici.
Alvaro Bautista isn't in his customary sixth place but two slots further back on a 1'23.203 with Stefan Bradl and Ben Spies in close attendance. Valentino Rossi was out on the soft tyre early on but set his quickest lap at session end and is 1.1s off the pace.
Randy De Puniet was chased hard by Colin Edwards for CRT top spot with Michele Pirro in third place. James Ellison was 21st. Aleix Espargaro slipped off early in the session while Mattia Pasini had a bizarre crash in pitlane, colliding with an AB Kardion Ducati mechanic as he made his way from the wall back to his garage. The Speed Master ART bike hit the deck and slid into the works Ducati garage. Neither was badly hurt.
