Despite a broken collarbone, Jorge Lorenzo was quickest in Friday’s opening practice for the eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland. The Yamaha Factory Racing rider led championship leader Dani Pedrosa and Assen winner Valentino Rossi as Andrea Dovizioso, Andrea Iannone and Cal Crutchlow all suffered sizeable accidents.

The Sachsenring hosts Round 8 of 18 in 2013, the first in a double-header with Laguna Seca which closes the opening half of the season.

Lorenzo set the pace with 1’22.047, less than a fortnight after he rode to a top five finish in The Netherlands despite having broken his left collarbone only two days earlier. With Repsol Honda Team’s Pedrosa within two tenths of Lorenzo, their respective teammates Rossi and Marc Marquez were third and fourth from LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl. At Avintia Blusens, Hiroshi Aoyama rode for the first time since his hand-injuring crash on the Saturday of the Catalunya race.

Turn 11 proved to be the scene of much drama. Dovizioso crashed his Ducati Team bike less than ten minutes in. Following a run off-track for teammate Nicky Hayden, it was Energy T.I. Pramac Racing’s Andrea Iannone who saw his bike finish up in two parts. Crutchlow’s incident then came in the final minute of the practice period, as the Englishman bounced across the gravel at Turn 1.

Second practice gets underway at 2:05pm local time (GMT +2).

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