Sachsenring MotoGP: Jorge Lorenzo tops crash-strewn first practice

The Spaniard, competing just a fortnight after breaking his collarbone at Assen, hit the front halfway through the session and was then able to continually improve his pace to ensure he was never displaced.

Both championship leader Dani Pedrosa, chasing a fourth straight MotoGP win at the German track, and Valentino Rossi, winner last time out at Assen, were able to close to within one tenth of Lorenzo in the final minutes.

As the chequered flag fell however, the reigning champion upped his pace once more, setting a 1m22.047s to go nearly two tenths clear at the front.

Behind Pedrosa and Rossi, Marc Marquez beat satellite riders Stefan Bradl and Cal Crutchlow to fourth.

The latter contributed to the list of severe crashes when he fell and bounced heavily through the gravel at Turn 1.

Andrea Dovizioso had been the first to fall when he lost his Ducati at the sixth-gear Turn 11 'waterfall'. He was able to walk away, although his bike was badly damaged.

It was even worse for Andrea Iannone, whose Pramac Ducati was totalled - with the entire rear section falling away - when he too crashed in the same section.

Nicky Hayden on the second works machine also suffered a gigantic tank slapper exiting Turn 10, although he somehow managed to hold on.

The American ended the session in eighth, just behind Aleix Espagaro, who again impressed on his Aspar Aprilia.

Alvaro Bautista crept into ninth late on, with a returning Dovizioso rounding out the top 10.

Pos Rider              Bike/Team               Time        Gap    Laps
 1. Jorge Lorenzo      Yamaha                  1m22.047s           20
 2. Dani Pedrosa       Honda                   1m22.221s  +0.174s  24
 3. Valentino Rossi    Yamaha                  1m22.241s  +0.194s  25
 4. Marc Marquez       Honda                   1m22.397s  +0.350s  22
 5. Stefan Bradl       LCR Honda               1m22.460s  +0.413s  23
 6. Cal Crutchlow      Tech 3 Yamaha           1m22.469s  +0.422s  21
 7. Aleix Espargaro    Aspar Aprilia           1m22.641s  +0.594s  22
 8. Nicky Hayden       Ducati                  1m22.816s  +0.769s  21
 9. Alvaro Bautista    Gresini Honda           1m22.882s  +0.835s  20
10. Andrea Dovizioso   Ducati                  1m23.068s  +1.021s  18
11. Randy de Puniet    Aspar Aprilia           1m23.131s  +1.084s  21
12. Andrea Iannone     Pramac Ducati           1m23.578s  +1.531s  18
13. Hector Barbera     Avintia FTR-Kawasaki    1m23.672s  +1.625s  20
14. Yonny Hernandez    PBM Aprilia             1m23.695s  +1.648s  19
15. Bradley Smith      Tech 3 Yamaha           1m23.726s  +1.679s  24
16. Michele Pirro      Pramac Ducati           1m23.868s  +1.821s  21
17. Colin Edwards      Forward FTR-Kawasaki    1m24.521s  +2.474s  19
18. Danilo Petrucci    Ioda-Suter-BMW          1m24.575s  +2.528s  25
19. Hiroshi Aoyama     Avintia FTR-Kawasaki    1m24.682s  +2.635s  20
20. Claudio Corti      Forward FTR-Kawasaki    1m24.728s  +2.681s  19
21. Bryan Staring      Gresini FTR-Honda       1m24.798s  +2.751s  22
22. Michael Laverty    PBM-Aprilia             1m25.129s  +3.082s  23
23. Karel Abraham      Cardion Aprilia         1m26.195s  +4.148s  13
24. Lukas Pesek        Ioda-Suter-BMW          1m27.172s  +5.125s  19