In a wet second free practice at the eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland at the Sachsenring it was Repsol Honda Team’s Dani Pedrosa who coped best with the conditions to finish top ahead of local favourite Stefan Bradl and Jorge Lorenzo.

A torrential downpour just before the session was about to start, saw riders head out gingerly ten minutes into the practice on full wet tyres to test the German circuit. A few minutes later the majority of riders had headed out onto the track to dial in their wet weather race set-up. Yet it was a frantic final few minutes as some spots of sun had created numerous dry patches, and riders were swapping places at the front frequently.

In the end it was Pedrosa, fastest also in the dry morning practice, who just narrowly denied LCR Honda MotoGP’s Bradl a top finish at his home round by a mere seven hundredths of a second. Nonetheless, the German rookie will take heart from the fact that he ousted Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo into third, and Pedrosa’s teammate Stoner into fourth.

Making full use of the wet conditions was Ducati Team’s Valentino Rossi, who was just over three tenths off the top. He finished ahead of his teammate Nicky Hayden, who looked equally at ease on the soaking German track. The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 duo of Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso did not finish quite as well as in the morning, coming in seventh and eighth respectively.

Lorenzo’s teammate ended a subdued day down in ninth, just ahead of Pramac Racing Team’s Héctor Barberá. Top CRT went to British rider James Ellison, on board his Paul Bird Motorsport ART machine. Fortunately no riders crashed in the session, however Avintia Blusens’ Iván Silva had a few big wobbles aboard his BQR-FTR machine in the latter stages.

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