Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo was quick to find his form today in the first day of practice for the Grand Prix of Germany at the Sachsenring circuit. Despite needing crutches to walk following last weekend’s crash in Assen, the Mallorcan was quickly onto the pace. Lorenzo wrapped up the dry morning session less than three tenths from first and the afternoon wet session less than one tenth from the front.

Following a difficult weekend in Assen as a consequence of tyre issues Ben Spies spent the first free session here in Germany trying different set ups on his YZR-M1 but was unable to find answers. The team then reverted back to the tried and tested set up and made improvements in making him comfortable in the afternoon’s wet session. The Texan ended the second practice in ninth, 0.879 seconds from first.

Jorge Lorenzo - Position 3rd - Time: 1'22.647 - Laps 28

“I have more pain walking than on the bike which is good and adrenaline helps with it too. I’m not 100% and I get more tired in the upper body compensating but I think we still did a good job this morning and this afternoon. The injury, the loss of points and the loss of the engine makes it more difficult for the Championship but this just gives me more motivation to keep working and come back stronger to win.”

Ben Spies - Position 10th - Time: 1'23.353 - Laps 40

“This morning was a bit frustrating, we went out to try a couple of things that didn’t work, the bike wasn’t that bad we just made it a bit too slow. We ended up with a decent setting this afternoon when it was wet. I’m not too upset because when it’s rained here the last couple of years I’ve been horrible but this year although we were ninth we weren’t that far from the front. My feeling with the bike is good if it’s a wet race so we’ll wait and see if we get a dry session tomorrow.”

Wilco Zeelenberg - Yamaha Factory Racing Team Manager

“A good first practice day here at the Sachsenring after last weekend’s accident in Assen. We were two tenths off the fastest guy in the dry practice this morning and less than one tenth off the fastest guy in the wet this afternoon. The bike feels good and is steering well so we’ll see what we can improve for tomorrow.”


Massimo Meregalli - Yamaha Factory Racing Team Director

“A difficult start to the weekend for Ben, we tried some different set ups this morning to learn something more about the issue we had in Assen but unfortunately the changes didn’t give the right feeling on the bike. We went back to the old set up this afternoon but then it started raining. We had a few laps on the wet and his feeling was pretty ok so we’ll see tomorrow morning whether it’s dry or not but we’ll keep going and working to make improvements.”



Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team riders Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow conquered contrasting weather conditions at Germany's Sachsenring track today to make a positive start to round eight of the 2012 MotoGP World Championship.

This morning's opening practice session took place in warm and sunny conditions and Dovizioso and Crutchlow were immediately able to set a competitive pace to finish in fourth and fifth respectively.

Italian Dovizioso, who is in a rich vein of form with two podium finishes in the previous three races, was only 0.275s away from the top three after quickly finding a fast rhythm on the tight and twisty Sachsenring track.

British rider Crutchlow also enjoyed a productive start to the eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland weekend and he was only 0.159s behind Dovizioso's pace in fifth position.

Both were hoping to work on improving the set-up of their YZR-M1 machines this afternoon but heavy rainfall saturated the Sachsenring track just minutes before the second practice session got underway.

With a strong wind gusting around the circuit too, conditions were far from ideal but Crutchlow and Dovizioso demonstrated their high potential on Bridgestone's rain tyres. Crutchlow, who has been in outstanding form in 2012 with five top five finishes, set the seventh fastest time and his lap of 1.32.744 was only 0.516s behind Dani Pedrosa.

Dovizioso was only one position further back and just 0.073s behind Crutchlow and the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team riders are optimistic that they will have the pace to fight for the podium in wet or dry conditions in Sunday's 30-lap encounter.

Andrea Dovizioso - Position 4th - Time: 1'22.922 - Laps 44

“I am really satisfied with today because I am not so far away in both dry and wet conditions and the lap times are very close in both sessions. Immediately this morning in the dry I had a very good feeling with the YZR-M1 and we concentrated mainly on the race set-up. In the past here I have been very fast in practice but then had a lot of problems in the race, so we have worked a lot on conserving tyre life. This track is very short and you spend a lot of time carrying a lot of lean angle, so it is easy to wear the tyre too quickly. I have been working on carrying a little less lean angle to help save the tyres for the end of the race. I am happy with my pace in the wet also because at the start of the session when the track was at its wettest, I followed Pedrosa and I could comfortably stay with him and he was the fastest in all conditions today. It has been a good start but we need to see what will happen with the weather.”

Cal Crutchlow - Position 5th - Time: 1'23.081 - Laps 42

“It was a decent start to the weekend and I am not too far away from the best pace in both dry and wet conditions. But I need to make some improvements in the first sector because that is where I am losing a lot of time. It is mainly in the first two corners where I'm struggling and we don't fully understand why, so tonight I'll sit down with my crew and analyse the data so we can work on being faster in that part of the track tomorrow. But I am still very happy today because last year this was one of my worst races. I was only 14th and a lot slower than the best pace, but I was close to the front in both sessions and that's a positive way to kick off the weekend.”

2012 MotoGP Germany - Sachsenring 06/07/2012

1 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 1'22.357

2 Casey Stoner Honda AUS 1'22.444

3 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha ESP 1'22.647

4 Andrea Dovizioso Yamaha ITA 1'22.922

5 Cal Crutchlow Yamaha GBR 1'23.081

6 Hector Barbera Ducati ESP 1'23.091

7 Nicky Hayden Ducati USA 1'23.092

8 Alvaro Bautista Honda ESP 1'23.203

9 Stefan Bradl Honda GER 1'23.306

10 Ben Spies Yamaha USA 1'23.353

11 Valentino Rossi Ducati ITA 1'23.481

12 Randy De Puniet ART FRA 1'24.210

13 Colin Edwards Suter USA 1'24.560

14 Michele Pirro FTR ITA 1'24.659

15 Yonny Hernandez BQR-FTR COL 1'24.786

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