PBM Aprilia’s Michael Laverty shocked the MotoGP paddock at the Sachsenring today with a second free practice time that put him just three-tenths behind nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi and only eight-tenths off runaway series leader Marc Marquez.

The Irishman puts his pace down to a combination of a new exhaust system his team installed at Assen, which gives a 10 per cent mid-range power hike, and the tight-and-twisty nature of the German circuit where outright speed is not a factor. Laverty was in the middle of a four-lap run on the soft tyre but was pinged off right at the end when a highside spat him into the gravel at the bottom of the Waterfall.

“I was pretty chuffed to see P10 appear on the board and to be only three-tenths behind Valentino Rossi is very pleasing, considering he is a multiple world champion and on a factory Yamaha,” said Laverty, speaking to bikesportnews.com this evening.

“The tight-and-twisty nature of the track helps us a lot and the new exhaust is also a bonus with the added mid-range. I think we still have a couple of tenths to find if we can just get a bit more corner acceleration on the soft tyre. I tried the hard tyre today but it doesn’t quite give the edge grip on initial throttle.”