Honda’s Dani Pedrosa led the way in Friday’s first practice session ahead of the German Grand Prix. With the Spaniard at the top of the timesheets and championship leader Jorge Lorenzo’s Yamaha sixth, returning Champion Valentino Rossi surprised all by posting the seventh best effort.
Having suffered a broken leg in Mugello practice and missed four races as a result, Rossi – who had been expected to sit out for up to half a year – was amazingly given the green light by MotoGP medical officials on Thursday afternoon.
In bright Friday conditions, Pedrosa – currently second in the World Championship – set the benchmark with a best effort of 1:22.521 on his final lap, edging out the Ducati of Casey Stoner (who will most likely be joining Dani as a team-mate next season, having signed for Honda).
In sixth, championship leader Lorenzo produced a quickest lap time which was a second off the P1 mark although, somewhat unbelievably, Rossi was within just two hundredths of a second of his team-mate.
Also in the session, recent star Randy de Puniet was able to avoid an off despite suffering a highly lurid moment on the LCR Honda, eventually finishing eighth fastest. The second Honda factory bike of Andrea Dovizioso completes the top ten, just behind the Gresini of Marco Melandri.
The second practice session in Germany commences at 9:55am local time on Saturday (BST +1)
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