Pedrosa leads; Rossi seventh

From motogp.com

There was great excitement at the commencement of the eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland on Friday as the focus at the start of the opening practice session revolved around Valentino Rossi’s return to action after six weeks out.

The Italian made his comeback on his Fiat Yamaha M1 and was seventh fastest in an hour-long session which was topped by Dani Pedrosa (Respol Honda).

Setting his time of 1:22.521 on his final lap, having led for the last minutes of the session, Pedrosa was 0.274 secs. faster than Casey Stoner, who placed second on the timesheet as he vied for top spot throughout the session with consistently fast lap times.

“It’s great because for the first time this season I’ve got the best time on Friday and this is a very positive step for us,” said the 24-year-old Pedrosa. “We normally struggle initially, but today we did a very good job in first practice and I’m very happy for this.

"It’s also a good result because tomorrow it could rain and so it was very important to get the basic set-up fixed on the first day here. I hope we will have one more practice session in the dry tomorrow, but it looks likely that at least one session will be wet.”

Ever the perfectionist Pedrosa outlined further work on specific areas of the set-up of his machine for Saturday in order to arrive at Sunday’s race in the sharpest possible shape.

“Today we were focused mainly on trying the different Bridgestone tire compounds available for the race, and we were able to be fast with the soft and also with the hard option,” he explained. “For tomorrow we need to keep working on the suspension and the electronics because I think we can still improve in some parts of the lap.”

Joining the pair in the top three and the final rider under the 1:23 mark was Stoner’s Ducati Team colleague Nicky Hayden, 0.462 secs. down on Pedrosa thanks to a late effort.

Ben Spies (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) took the best part of the session to feel his way around the track and survived a run-off at turn 10 a quarter of the way in, but towards the end he posted an impressive time of 1:23.189 to place fourth.

Another rookie in the shape of Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini) completed the top five.

In sixth and 0.703 secs. down on Pedrosa was Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo, with the Fiat Yamaha rider timing in with a best effort of 1:23.224, just two-hundredths off Simoncelli.

Rossi, making his return to great fanfare, completed 29 laps in total, and was only 0.02 secs. off his team-mate’s time just 41 days after suffering an exposed fracture of his right tibia in a crash at Mugello.

Dispelling any doubts over his ability to be competitive the 31-year-old lapped consistently throughout the session, and was among the top four for much of the hour-long practice.

"I am really happy today, especially because I am a lot more agile on the bike than I was in the tests (at Misano and Brno),” explained Rossi, whose return to action was feverishly welcomed by both fans and the media. “I feel good and this track is helping me because a lot of it turns to the left. I am feeling quite confident on the bike and also my shoulder is good and not giving me problems. Now I have some pain in the leg and ankle but it's not too bad.

“I was able to do some laps in a row and I was quite fast so things seem okay. Now we will have to wait until tomorrow morning to see how the leg is and whether it has swelled overnight or developed any problems."

Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) overcame a dramatic moment with the front end of his bike early on, controlling his RC212V admirably in the midst of a big wobble to go on and lap eighth fastest.

Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini) and Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) completed the top 10.

Simone Corsi was the fastest rider in the first Moto2 practice at Sachsenring on Friday, setting a best time of 1:26.306 on his Motobi chassis of the JiR Moto2 team. That placed the Italian 0.218 secs. clear of Gabor Talmacsi (Fimmco Speed Up), who was second.

MotoGP Practice Results
1. Dani PEDROSA (SPA) Repsol Honda 1:22.521
2. Casey STONER (AUS) Ducati 1:22.795
3. Nicky HAYDEN (USA) Ducati 1:22.983
4. Ben SPIES (USA) Monster Tech 3 Yamaha 1:23.189
5. Marco SIMONCELLI (ITA) San Carlo Gresini Honda 1:23.204
6. Jorge LORENZO (SPA) Fiat Yamaha 1:23.224
7. Valentino ROSSI (ITA) Fiat Yamaha 1:23.244
8. Randy DE PUNIET (FRA) LCR Honda 1:23.260
9. Marco MELANDRI (ITA) San Carlo Gresini Honda 1:23.290
10. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (ITA) Repsol Honda 1:23.400
11. Mika KALLIO (FIN) Pramac Ducati 1:23.422
12. Aleix ESPARGARO (SPA) Pramac Ducati 1:23.430
13. Colin EDWARDS (USA) Monster Tech 3 Yamaha 1:23.440
14. Loris CAPIROSSI (ITA) Rizla Suzuki 1:23.589
15. Hector BARBERA (SPA) Paginas Amarillas Aspar Ducati 1:23.599
16. Alvaro BAUTISTA (SPA) Rizla Suzuki 1:24.020
17. Alex DE ANGELIS (RSM) Interwetten Honda 1:24.101