Lorenzo fires up to take top spot in FP2

Jorge Lorenzo’s lap of 1’22.253 placed the Fiat Yamaha rider at the top of the rankings in the second practice session at the eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland, as he found a vastly improved feeling on his M1 to set the fastest lap of the weekend so far. The session started on a wet track which dried rapidly as the session progressed, allowing the Championship leader to go faster than Dani Pedrosa’s top time from the first session by almost three-tenths.

Ducati Team rider Casey Stoner was second, as he had been on Friday, at 0.140s off Lorenzo, with Valentino Rossi continuing his remarkable return to action by completing the top three at 0.433s down on the lead time as he further proved his agility on his M1.

Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) and Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) were both inside the top five, with the Frenchman managing to stay upright when he ran on at turn one early in the session. Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) made an improvement to finish the session in sixth, the final rider under the 1’23” mark.

Ben Spies (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) recorded top eight times, whilst Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini) was running in fifth when he crashed at turn 11 halfway through the practice. The Italian was uninjured and returned to the track immediately, placing tenth at the close of the session.

The MotoGP riders will be back on track at 1.55pm local time for qualifying.