MotoGP
Following a cold and windy morning free practice that yielded five big crashes in the first half of the session, the MotoGP field entered the second practice on Friday on a substantially warmer track and with slightly calmer winds at the eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland.
Marco Simoncelli rode his San Carlo Honda Gresini bike to the top of the timings with a lap of 1’22.225 at Sachsenring, over half a second faster than his FP1 time, and 0.095s in front of defending World Champion Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) who mounted his own attempt to lead the field with fast lap of 1'22.320, an improvement of 0.726s over his FP1 time, though it was quickly outpaced by the Italian.
Dani Pedrosa demonstrated his climb back to full fitness is progressing rapidly with a third fastest time of 1'22.432. The 25 year-old was just in front of his two team mates, 0.110s ahead of Casey Stoner, and 0.222s quicker than Andrea Dovizioso.
The highest placing Ducati Team rider of the day was Nicky Hayden, who posted a time of 1'22.882 to put him in sixth place, in front of fellow countryman Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing) whose time of 1'22.894 was the last under the 1’23” mark. Pramac Racing’s Randy de Puniet posted the eighth fastest time of the day with a 1'23.037, followed by Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) and Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing) completing the top ten.
Ducati team’s Valentino Rossi entered the garages with electrical problems toward the end of the session but was able to rejoin, ending 12th in the session just behind Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), and 13th for the day. Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar) crashed out at the end of the session but fortunately was unhurt. The Spaniard was 13th in the session and 11th fastest for the day. He was followed by Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), who suffered a crash in turn 11 but was able to re-enter the track to post a time of 1'23.760.
Sylvain Guintoli stepped in for Loris Capirossi on the Pramac Racing team for FP2, and will do so for the remainder of the weekend, as Capirossi is still suffering from chest and shoulder pain following a crash in Assen.
Moto2
Interwetten Paddock Moto2 rider Thomas Lüthi posted the fastest Moto2 time of the day, a 1'25.458, nearly a second quicker than his FP1 time. He was pursued by Aleix Espargaró (Pons HP 40), a frontrunner for much of the second practice session who clocked a fast lap of 1'25.460, with Yuki Takahashi (Gresini Racing) completing the top three of the day with a lap of 1'25.468.
Fourth fastest was Englishman Scott Redding of the Marc VDS Racing team, setting a time of 1'25.529, followed by current Championship leader Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing), who set a lap of 1'25.577 to rank fifth fastest of the day on his home turf.
Marc Márquez (Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol), who won last year’s 125cc race here, made it to sixth position in the timings as he put down a lap of 1'25.628, while Bradley Smith of Tech 3 Racing occupied seventh spot, just 0.004s down on the Spaniard.
Mapfre Aspar’s Julián Simón made an impressive return to action having been out injured with a broken leg since early June, ranking eighth in the field of 39 riders with a time of 1'25.647, ahead of Alex de Angelis (JiR Moto2) in ninth with a 1'25.667, and Mika Kallio (Marc VDS Racing) whose lap of 1'25.760 completed the top ten. Simone Corsi (Ioda Racing Project) in 13th position was the last rider under the 1’26” mark in the second session, with a time of 1'25.962.
125cc
Nico Terol (Bankia Aspar) set a time of 1'28.483, 0.375s faster than his FP1 time, to jump ahead of his team mate Héctor Faubel by seven-thousandths of a second in the 125cc class afternoon session and top the day’s timings. Faubel, who had dominated the timings for most of the 40 minute practice, posted a time of 1'28.490, which was 0.635s quicker than his FP1 fastest lap.
Maverick Viñales (Blusens by Paris Hilton Racing Team) upped his pace to grab the third spot in the session with a time of 1'28.655, with Sergio Gadea (Blusens by Paris Hilton Racing Team) again completing a Spanish top four with a 1'28.971, the last of the riders under the 1’29” mark.
Sandro Cortese (Intact Racing Team Germany) was again the fastest German in the field, posting a time of 1'29.074, an improvement of 0.813s from the morning and putting him fifth fastest of the day. Marcel Schrötter (Mahindra Racing) was sixth fastest in the session, but Efrén Vázquez (Avant-AirAsia-Ajo) who had an early run-off, posted an earlier practice session time of 1'29.101 to keep him in sixth place for the day.
The second fastest German in the 125cc field was Marcel Schrötter of the Mahindra Racing team in seventh, followed by Luis Salom of the RW Racing GP team in eighth, Jonas Folger (Red Bull Ajo Motorsport) in ninth and Schrötter’s team mate Danny Webb tenth fastest of the day. The third Bankia Aspar rider, Adrián Martín, crashed out of the session but ended the day in 14th spot.