Lorenzo reveals true Sachsenring pace
Jorge Lorenzo rediscovered some of his mojo by jumping back to the top of the times in a competitive second practice session for the German MotoGP
The world championship leader showed lacklustre form in Friday's practice, and had to fight hard to assert his authority on this session - which began damp following an overnight thunderstorm - with both Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner both threatening at the top at various times during the hour.
But in the end, with the track conditions at their best, the Majorcan Yamaha rider banged in two laps of the Sachsenring that were faster than anyone else had gone all weekend. The second of those laps stopped the clock at 1m23.253s, just as the chequered flag came out.
Stoner couldn't match that, but was only 0.140s slower on the Ducati.
The recovering Valentino Rossi was a quite astonishing third fastest, having completed a total of 26 laps. His best effort on the 25th of those to lap the track in 1m22.686s.
Yesterday's pace-setter Pedrosa slipped to fourth in the end, having been on top initially and then again with only 15 minutes to go, the Honda rider exactly half a second away from the pace.
Randy de Puniet did another strong job for LCR to go fifth ahead of the second factory Honda bike of Andrea Dovizioso.
Ben Spies was seventh fastest, while Nicky Hayden, Hector Barbera and Marco Simoncelli - who crashed mid-session at Turn 11 after losing the front-end - completed the top ten.
Pos Rider Team Time Gap 1. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m22.253s + 2. Casey Stoner Ducati 1m22.393s + 0.140s 3. Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1m22.686s + 0.433s 4. Dani Pedrosa Honda 1m22.753s + 0.500s 5. Randy de Puniet LCR Honda 1m22.859s + 0.606s 6. Andrea Dovizioso Honda 1m22.988s + 0.735s 7. Ben Spies Tech 3 Yamaha 1m23.062s + 0.809s 8. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1m23.202s + 0.949s 9. Hector Barberta Aspar Ducati 1m23.262s + 1.009s 10. Marco Simoncelli Gresini Honda 1m23.392s + 1.139s 11. Colin Edwards Tech 3 Yamaha 1m23.395s + 1.142s 12. Mika Kallio Pramac Ducati 1m23.674s + 1.421s 13. Alvaro Bautista Suzuki 1m23.703s + 1.450s 14. Aleix Espargaro Pramac Ducati 1m23.709s + 1.456s 15. Marco Melandri Gresini Honda 1m23.751s + 1.498s 16. Alex de Angelis Interwetten Honda 1m23.839s + 1.586s 17. Loris Capirossi Suzuki 1m23.844s + 1.591s
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