Sachsenring MotoGP: Lorenzo Leads FP3

2011 MotoGP

The reigning MotoGP Champion, Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo, began on top Saturday in Sachsenring, Germany, the Spaniard leading the third and final free practice session before qualifying.

But it didn’t appear as if Lorenzo would set the pace on Saturday. Earlier in the FP3 session, the Italian who lead the first two practices, Marco Simoncelli, was leading the 17-rider grid.

But the San Carlo Honda Gresini rider had a crash in the fast turn 11 with 15 minutes remaining. Simoncelli was able to rejoin, but couldn’t catch Lorenzo or the second fastest rider in FP3, Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa.

Pedrosa, who won last year’s Germany MotoGP round, would finish FP3 0.041 of a second behind Lorenzo, with Simoncelli posting a 1:22.159, 0.047 behind Lorenzo.

The current MotoGP leader, Casey Stoner, placed his Repsol Honda RC212V in the fourth fastest position, 0.274 of a second behind Lorenzo. Stoner’s teammate Andrea Dovizioso was 0.055 of a second further back.

As for nine-time World Champion Valentino Rossi, the Italian piloted his Ducati Team GP11.1 to a 12th-fastest pace in FP3. Also, Loris Capirossi, who continues to recover from his crash at Assen, didn’t participate in FP3; World Superbike rider Sylvain Guintoli (Effenbert-Liberty Ducati) substituted for Capirossi aboard the Pramac Racing Ducati GP11.

Next up is qualifying before Sunday’s MotoGP at Sachsenring, Germany.

2011 Sachsenring MotoGP: Free Practice 3 Results:

Pos.	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time	Gap 1st/Prev.
1.	1	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Yamaha Factory Racing	Yamaha	280.7	1’22.112
2.	26	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	283.9	1’22.153	0.041 / 0.041
3.	58	Marco SIMONCELLI	ITA	San Carlo Honda Gresini	Honda	279.4	1’22.159	0.047 / 0.006
4.	27	Casey STONER	AUS	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	283.9	1’22.386	0.274 / 0.227
5.	4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	281.6	1’22.441	0.329 / 0.055
6.	69	Nicky HAYDEN	USA	Ducati Team	Ducati	277.3	1’22.500	0.388 / 0.059
7.	19	Alvaro BAUTISTA	SPA	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	Suzuki	280.4	1’22.594	0.482 / 0.094
8.	11	Ben SPIES	USA	Yamaha Factory Racing	Yamaha	275.2	1’22.772	0.660 / 0.178
9.	14	Randy DE PUNIET	FRA	Pramac Racing Team	Ducati	274.2	1’22.841	0.729 / 0.069
10.	5	Colin EDWARDS	USA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	275.5	1’23.118	1.006 / 0.277
11.	17	Karel ABRAHAM	CZE	Cardion AB Motoracing	Ducati	274.0	1’23.268	1.156 / 0.150
12.	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	279.2	1’23.279	1.167 / 0.011
13.	35	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	275.0	1’23.296	1.184 / 0.017
14.	7	Hiroshi AOYAMA	JPN	San Carlo Honda Gresini	Honda	281.5	1’23.362	1.250 / 0.066
15.	8	Hector BARBERA	SPA	Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP	Ducati	277.8	1’23.393	1.281 / 0.031
16.	24	Toni ELIAS	SPA	LCR Honda MotoGP	Honda	279.6	1’24.246	2.134 / 0.853
17.	50	Sylvain GUINTOLI	FRA	Pramac Racing Team	Ducati	272.6	1’25.975	3.863 / 1.729