2011 MotoGP
San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Marco Simoncelli set the pace in Free Practice 1 Friday morning, and continued on top after Free Practice 2 was complete for Round 9 of the 2011 MotoGP Championship at Sachsenring, Germany.
In FP2, the conditions were much warmer than FP1, allowing the Italian Simoncelli to improve on his earlier MotoGP lap times by nearly a half of second. In FP2, Simoncelli would post a 1:22.225 on his RC212V.
But not far behind was the reigning MotoGP Champion, Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo. The Spaniard followed Simoncelli by a mere 0.095 of a second. Lorenzo vastly improved on his morning time also, the Yamaha M1 rider posting a 1:22.320, which was 0.726 of a second quicker than his FP1 time.
Last year’s MotoGP winner, Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa, was third quickest, posting a 1:22.432, which was over a second faster than his morning time. Following Pedrosa in fourth and fifth were his MotoGP teammates, Casey Stoner (0.110 of a second behind) and Andrea Dovizioso (0.222 of second).
As for Ducati Team’s Valentino Rossi, the Italian had a rough crash in FP1, and only finished 14th fastest. In FP2, the Italian continued to have troubles, but this time it was electrical problems aboard the Ducati GP11.1. Rossi was 14th fastest.
World Superbike’s Sylvain Guintoli (Effenbert-Liberty Ducati) piloted the Pramac Racing Ducati for Loris Capirossi in FP2; Capirossi continued to suffer from chest and shoulder pain following his crash in Assen. Â
The riders will grid up Saturday morning for the third and final practice before qualifying at Sachsenring MotoGP.
2011 Sachsenring MotoGP: Free Practice 2 Results
| Pos. | Num. | Rider | Nation | Team | Bike | Km/h | Time | Gap 1st/Prev. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 58 | Marco SIMONCELLI | ITA | San Carlo Honda Gresini | Honda | 278.4 | 1’22.225 | |
| 2. | 1 | Jorge LORENZO | SPA | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha | 279.4 | 1’22.320 | 0.095 / 0.095 |
| 3. | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 282.0 | 1’22.432 | 0.207 / 0.112 |
| 4. | 27 | Casey STONER | AUS | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 282.7 | 1’22.542 | 0.317 / 0.110 |
| 5. | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | ITA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 280.3 | 1’22.654 | 0.429 / 0.112 |
| 6. | 69 | Nicky HAYDEN | USA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 276.5 | 1’22.882 | 0.657 / 0.228 |
| 7. | 11 | Ben SPIES | USA | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha | 275.9 | 1’22.894 | 0.669 / 0.012 |
| 8. | 14 | Randy DE PUNIET | FRA | Pramac Racing Team | Ducati | 272.0 | 1’23.037 | 0.812 / 0.143 |
| 9. | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | SPA | Rizla Suzuki MotoGP | Suzuki | 277.6 | 1’23.261 | 1.036 / 0.224 |
| 10. | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | CZE | Cardion AB Motoracing | Ducati | 273.7 | 1’23.352 | 1.127 / 0.091 |
| 11. | 5 | Colin EDWARDS | USA | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 275.8 | 1’23.431 | 1.206 / 0.079 |
| 12. | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | ITA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 277.1 | 1’23.533 | 1.308 / 0.102 |
| 13. | 8 | Hector BARBERA | SPA | Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP | Ducati | 277.1 | 1’23.625 | 1.400 / 0.092 |
| 14. | 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | GBR | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 276.9 | 1’23.760 | 1.535 / 0.135 |
| 15. | 7 | Hiroshi AOYAMA | JPN | San Carlo Honda Gresini | Honda | 281.3 | 1’23.906 | 1.681 / 0.146 |
| 16. | 24 | Toni ELIAS | SPA | LCR Honda MotoGP | Honda | 280.0 | 1’24.304 | 2.079 / 0.398 |
| 17. | 50 | Sylvain GUINTOLI | FRA | Pramac Racing Team | Ducati | 271.2 | 1’25.964 | 3.739 / 1.660 |
