Marlboro Ducati's Casey Stoner has set the fastest lap during this afternoon's MotoGP first free practice practice session at the Sachsenring, heading off a last-gasp charge by Laguna Seca victor Dani Pedrosa.
The Australian, who is still suffering with his various illnesses, was well underneath Pedrosa's lap record set in 2007, lapping in 1'22.779 with the Spaniard a quarter of a second slower and Valentino Rossi in third on a 1'23.088.
The Doctor spent a long time getting up to speed and was languishing down in 14th place after a fast start. Rossi then started a run of laps which pulled him up to eighth, then fourth and finally third with a 1'23.088.
Stoner's team-mate Nicky Hayden was by far and away the fastest man while the track was drying out, leading by more than a second at one point earlier on in the session. Despite rallying towards the end, the former Champion ended up in eighth but the top 12 are covered by less than a second.
LCR Honda's Randy de Puniet ended the session in fourth after leading earlier on with Alex de Angelis in fifth and Monster Yamaha's Colin Edwards rounding out a provisional second row, only half a second off Stoner's pace.
Jorge Lorenzo, who is still suffering with his Laguna Seca injuries, ended up in 11th place behind Marco Melandri who also was at the top of the sheets in the first 10 minutes, while Britain's James Toseland saved a massive highside after 20 minutes to finish in 14th.
