Pedrosa feared red flag would cost him

In the event, the Honda rider was even quicker in the second half of the race, and was able to overtake Jorge Lorenzo and grab his second win of 2010.

Pedrosa had taken the lead at both starts before being re-passed by Lorenzo soon after. He was chasing his countryman at the front of the field on lap nine of the original race when it was stopped after a crash involving Randy de Puniet, Aleix Espargaro and Alvaro Bautista that felt de Puniet with a broken leg.

"The race was difficult because when it is stopped, sometimes it's not the same when you restart," said Pedrosa.

"In the first race I was riding well and Jorge was also riding well. We were both going away from the group. When they stopped the race, the feeling was like 'oh...'.

"When we restarted, the race was about the same for us, because I got first at the start and then he overtook.

"By the end I felt I was spinning a lot but I could still go fast. So I overtook Jorge and I tried to go a little bit faster and finally I got a good result here. It's amazing.

"I'm very happy today because we are back to winning, so it's always a great feeling."

The result was Pedrosa's second German GP victory, following on from his dominant 2007 triumph at the track. He had been crushing the field in the wet in 2008 as well, until crashing heavily and injuring his hand, while last year he had to settle for a close third behind the Yamahas.

His victory today allows him to slightly reduce Lorenzo's championship lead, which now stands at 47 points.