Lorenzo preserves top spot in second practice

Jorge Lorenzo was once more the pacesetter in free practice at the TIM TT Assen, as he led the second session with a best time of 1’34.769. The Fiat Yamaha rider was the first rider of the weekend to get under 1’35”, and remains so, with Ducati Team’s Casey Stoner 0.319s off the Spaniard’s time with a fastest lap of 1’35.088.

Stoner lapped consistently in the low 1’35” region and was ahead of third placed Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) by a margin of 0.363s. There then stood a gap of just 0.122s between fourth placed Ben Spies (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Aleix Espargaró (Pramac Racing) in eighth.

Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) was fifth fastest in the session and managed to set his time in the midst of some issues. First the American had an engine problem which forced him into Pit Lane, and with three minutes to go he had a minor fall. LCR Honda’s Randy de Puniet and Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso were sixth and seventh quickest respectively. Completing the top ten were Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini) and Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki).

There was a crash for Marco Melandri just 12 minutes into the session which ended in injury for the San Carlo Honda Gresini rider at Turn 7. Running on, the Italian was braking hard when his RC212V highsided him, and Melandri landed heavily on his left shoulder. The result was a posterior dislocation of the left shoulder and Melandri was taken to hospital in Assen for X-rays after being assessed at the Clinica Mobile. He will not take part in this afternoon’s qualification, and will most likely be out for Saturday’s race. Further updates are expected on the Italian’s condition in due course.

Qualifying for the MotoGP class starts at 1.55pm local time.