Ducati’s Casey Stoner leads the MotoGP pack after the first day of action at the wet Sachsenring. The MotoGP riders took to the German circuit right at the conclusion of a downpour, the damp conditions allowing riders to work on wet settings. As the practice session wore on, however, the track dried allowing to Stoner to peel off a record-breaking lap time aboard the Desmosedici GP9. 

Stoner, who is still complaining of a mysterious fatiguing illness, was able to finish the session well ahead of his nearest competitor Dani Pedrosa. The Australian was the sole rider to dip under the 1’23 lap time, bettering the standing racing circuit record of 1’23.082 held by Pedrosa (Stoner has the top pole position record of 1.21.067. Stoner’s Ducati teammate, Nicky Hayden, was eighth-fastest overall.

Following Stoner and Pedrosa was Valentino Rossi, who was happy to work on wet settings before the track surface dried. The Doctors speedy teammate, Jorge Lorenzo, was 11th-fastest. The 22-year-old Mallorcan is still hurt from Laguna Seca qualifying get-offs, but having won the majority of pole positions this year Lorenzo’s practice position is not a terrible cause for concern. Yamaha’s Tech 3 satellite riders, Colin Edwards and James Toseland, were a respective sixth and 14th on the results sheet.

LCR and San Carlo Gresini satellite riders, Randy de Puniet and Alex de Angelis, were fourth and fifth-fastest on the day. Other Honda riders paced in the top-10 as well, Toni Elias (Gresini) being seventh-fastest and factory Repsol pilot Andrea Dovizioso the ninth-fastest. MotoGP.com reports the Repsol squad is sourcing a new engine from HRC for the Sachsenring circuit.

As for the Rizla Suzuki team, Chris Vermeulen, one of the best GP riders in the wet, was the lone competitor to crash during the first day’s action – highsiding in the latter minutes of the session after hitting a wet spot on the drying track. Veteran Loris Capirossi was 12th-fastest on the day.

The lone Kawasaki rider, Hayate Racing’s Marco Melandri, finished Friday 10th fastest.

According to weather reports, the chance of rain drops from Friday’s 50% to 10% for Saturday’s practice and qualifying sessions, as well Sunday’s 30-lap race.

MotoGP Sachsenring Friday Practice Results:
1 Casey Stoner (Ducati Marlboro Team) 1'22.779
2 Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) 1'23.034
3 Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha Team) 1'23.088
4 Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda MotoGP) 1'23.133
5 Alex de Puniet (San Carlo Honda Gresini) 1'23.282
6 Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) 1'23.295
7 Toni Elias (San Carlo Honda Gresini) 1'23.351
8 Nicky Hayden (Ducati Marlboro Team) 1'23.367
9 Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda Team) 1'23.370
10 Marco Melandri (Hayate Racing Team) 1'23.466
11 Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha Team) 1'23.496
12 Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP) 1'23.705
13 Mika Kallio (Pramac Racing) 1'24.090
14 James Toseland (Monster Yamaha) Tech 3 1'24.317
15 Niccolo Canepa (Pramac Racing) 1'24.908
16 Chris Vermeulen (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP) 1'25.161
17 Gabor Talmasci (Scot Racing Team MotoGP) 1'25.416

Casey Stoner - Ducati Marlboro - 1st 1’22.779
"It would have been better to have a full wet session because even from the first two laps the track was starting to dry and you don’t get such good feedback. The bike seems to be working well, we had to change a few small things - like the seat, to make it a bit more comfortable - but generally over the last three races it has been great and I’m quite happy with it here. We’re improving the GP9 step by step and I think you can see that by Nicky’s recent results, which I’m really pleased about. Physically I feel the same as I did at this stage in the last few races so if it rains again tomorrow it would probably be beneficial to me because I’m sure it would leave me in better shape for the race and give us a much better chance of challenging for the win."

Valentino Rossi – Fiat Yamaha – 3rd 1’23.088
“This was quite a strange session because we had all sorts of track conditions and then at the end it was basically dry and I was quite fast. It was a good chance to work on the rain setting and I am pretty happy because the bike felt good and our times were also quick on the wet track. It seems we have a good setting immediately here for all conditions, because it continued to feel good as the track dried and the nature of the asphalt changed. We have some things to improve, especially the feeling and general balance in the faster parts of the track, so we will concentrate on this tomorrow. Right at the end we had a bit of traffic or we could have been faster, but anyway we’re still third so I think we are in good shape. It seems Bridgestone have brought good tyres for this track, of course there is no intermediate tyre which is always going to be a bit difficult in these sorts of conditions, but I don’t think it was a big problem today.”

Nicky Hayden - Ducati Marlboro Team - 8th 1’23.367
“It is nice to be able to come to a track and not have to be trying something radical with the set-up on the first day and today we started out with pretty much the settings from Laguna, making a few changes as the session went on. Having said that we are trying a new handlebar here, which isn’t normally the kind of thing you do at this stage of the season, but we have changed a lot on the back of the bike so we just needed to compensate a little at the front. Up to now we’ve been using data from Casey or previous riders to find a base set-up on a Friday but now hopefully we can work from my own data on a consistent basis. My final position today isn’t too great but early in the session we were going really well, especially in the wet. We were on top for a long time and in this paddock if you’re P1 in the wet, dry or intermediate you have to be riding well and be comfortable with the bike. I think I was third up until the last lap, and it is a thing we need to improve – when I try to really dig in we don’t seem able to go faster and it’s an area we still need to address in order to improve qualifying in particular. Anyway, here we’ve started very well so we’ll see where we go from here.”

Jorge Lorenzo – Fiat Yamaha – 11th 1’23.496
“I am not at 100% and in fact my injuries don’t feel as good as I had hoped on the bike, which is disappointing. I have decided for the first time to use the leathers with the airbag and I want to say that I feel much more safe! This isn’t the best track for me, the slow corners don’t really suit my style and when I am not at full fitness it makes it more difficult, but today was okay considering the conditions. During the early part when it was wet I was reminding myself of the track, and then when it was dry later on I didn’t really have enough time to go fast because we had some things to check on the setting. But there are 12 riders all very close together, within seven tenths of a second and I am not worried because it was a strange day and not one for making conclusions. The forecast tomorrow looks similar tomorrow but let’s hope it is wrong!”

Loris Capirossi – Rizla Suzuki – 12th 1'23.705
"The conditions today were very strange, because we started with wet tyres and after about half-of-an-hour it was good enough to change to dry ones. I stayed out as long as I could to try and find a good rhythm with just a basic setting so we could understand how the bike was working. We found out a lot of information that will certainly help us to work in the best way possible tomorrow. Although we are 12th - which is a pretty poor position - we do have a lot of data to use tomorrow and I think we will make some big improvements."

Chris Vermeulen – Rizla Suzuki – 16th 1'25.161:
"It has not been the start to the weekend that I would have wanted! The weather wasn't ideal and we went out on the wet bike at the beginning, but I had an issue with that and missed a bit of the session. The guys seemed to overcome the problem and I was able to go back out and do a few more laps in the damp conditions. About half-way through we went out on slicks - even though it was still a bit patchy in places - and we were making steps with the bike. I went back out towards the end of the hour and the bike was a big step forward, which helped me get my lap-time down. As I was going across one of the puddles I think I was pushing a bit too hard and had a bit of a slide and crashed. I landed on the same side that I injured in Laguna so I'm not in the best of conditions, but I am sure I'll be fine tomorrow and we'll make some big steps forward."