Dani Pedrosa fastest in Sachsenring MotoGP practice in mixed weather
Dani Pedrosa went fastest in the final four minutes of a rain and wind-hit second MotoGP practice session at the Sachsenring
The weather kept the field guessing throughout: heavy rain led to a brief hiatus at the start, while looming clouds appeared with 10 minutes to go, leading many to head back to the pits.
The rain never arrived however and conditions continued to improve right up until the flag, with top spot changing hands on an almost lap-by-lap basis as a result.
Pedrosa, quickest in the opening practice and victor here in the past two seasons, was the man who eventually emerged on top courtesy of a 1m32.228s set two minutes from the finish.
As the flag flew the German fans had the anticipation of seeing LCR Honda's Stefan Bradl go faster in the first two sectors, only for the home favourite to lose time slightly and end the session second fastest, seven hundredths of a second down.
Jorge Lorenzo also set his best time late on, sealing third for Yamaha, while Casey Stoner on the second works Honda ended fourth, having been top with three minutes of the session to run.
Ducati and Tech 3 dictated the next four spots, with Valentino Rossi finishing fifth ahead of Nicky Hayden, Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso. All four riders got within 0.6s of Pedrosa's best.
Ben Spies ended the session in ninth on board the second works Yamaha, while Hector Barbera (Pramac Ducati) - quickest with a quarter of the session gone when conditions were at their worst - slipped to 10th ahead of Gresini's Alvaro Bautista.
Following his pitlane crash in practice one, Mattia Pasini managed to get out in the final quarter of the session, ending 14th fastest on his Speed Master machine. Paul Bird's James Ellison set the CRT pace in 12th, 2.6s down on Pedrosa.
Pos Rider Team/Bike Time Gap 1. Dani Pedrosa Honda 1m32.228s 2. Stefan Bradl LCR Honda 1m32.304s + 0.076s 3. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m32.327s + 0.099s 4. Casey Stoner Honda 1m32.408s + 0.180s 5. Valentino Rossi Ducati 1m32.532s + 0.304s 6. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1m32.657s + 0.429s 7. Cal Crutchlow Tech 3 Yamaha 1m32.744s + 0.516s 8. Andrea Dovizioso Tech 3 Yamaha 1m32.817s + 0.589s 9. Ben Spies Yamaha 1m33.107s + 0.879s 10. Hector Barbera Pramac Ducati 1m33.147s + 0.919s 11. Alvaro Bautista Gresini Honda 1m33.227s + 0.999s 12. James Ellison Paul Bird Aprilia 1m34.894s + 2.666s 13. Aleix Espargaro Aspar Aprilia 1m34.910s + 2.682s 14. Mattia Pasini Speed Master Aprilia 1m34.946s + 2.718s 15. Yonny Hernandez Inmotec FTR-Kawasaki 1m35.204s + 2.976s 16. Randy de Puniet Aspar Aprilia 1m35.311s + 3.083s 17. Danilo Petrucci Ioda-Aprilia 1m35.355s + 3.127s 18. Michele Pirro Gresini FTR-Honda 1m35.461s + 3.233s 19. Franco Battaini Cardion Ducati 1m36.019s + 3.791s 20. Ivan Silva Avintia Inmotec-Kawasaki 1m36.800s + 4.572s 21. Colin Edwards Forward Suter-BMW 1m43.245s + 11.017s
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