Repsol Honda's Marc Marquez romped to top spot in this morning's third MotoGP free practice session and was the only man to crack the 1'22 barrier with his final lap at the Sachsenring, going round in 1'21.903, edging out the CRT Aspar bike of Aleix Espargaro.
But it was bad news for his team-mate Dani Pedrosa who suffered a monster highside in the first corner early in the session. He crashed at relatively slow speed but was flicked a long way in the air to land on his elbow. First reports state there are no fractures but he is being flown to Chemnitz Hospital for further checks after feeling faint.
Espargaro put in a stunning lap with only a couple of minutes left to top the sheets with a 1'22.129 and only Marquez, and the power of HRC, could go faster. Valentino Rossi ended the session in third place and four-tenths of the second in arrears.
After a slow start, Monster Yamaha's Cal Crutchlow was less than a tenth behind his factory Yamaha team-mate on a 1'22.377 which deposed home-town hero Stefan Bradl but only by 12 one-hundredths of a second.
Alvaro Bautista clawed his way into the top ten with his last lap, just nipping ahead of Bradley Smith for sixth place while Nicky Hayden finished in eighth. Andrea Iannone and Andrea Dovizioso rounded out the top ten with Randy De Puniet and Claudio Corti completing the CRT top three.
PBM Aprilia's Michael Laverty crashed at the top of the waterfall right at the end of the session but walked away. He finished in 20th place on a 1'24.606.
Entrants to qualifying two:
Marquez
Bradl
Espargaro
Pedrosa
Rossi
Crutchlow
Hayden
Bautista
Smith
Dovizioso
Lorenzo's time from FP1 has been deleted as he has officially withdrawn from the meeting.