Update:
The Free Practice session 2 is over and guess what, Valentino Rossi has moved from P7 in FP1 to third spot in FP2! Rossi has put in 25 laps today and has achieved a best lap time of 1’22.686. The top two positions are secured by Jorge Lorenzo at 1’22.253 and Casey Stoner with 1’22.393. Qualifying will commence in while. Stay tuned to Motoroids.com for the updates..
Here’s what we reported earlier:
Rossi got the nod yesterday from the Chief Medical Officer at MotoGP to ride this weekend at the GP of Sachsenring. When Rossi came back to the paddock for the preparations of this weekend’s GP, one of his first words were, ““I missed MotoGP a lot, especially my bike and my whole team!” He later added, “Now I feel quite good after this bad injury. Everything after the crash went okay with the surgery, the doctors did a great job, and I worked every day to regain my fitness as soon as possible… I worked on my leg and my shoulder. It was difficult period but I feel quite good and I’m very happy to be able to try the bike tomorrow.The big question mark is the entire race, 30 laps in a row. I have to wait and see what happens!”
So when he came to Sachsenring for the official practice, it wasn’t only the lap times that were important but also the number of laps he could put in without damaging the recovering injury. But the true sportsman and a gift from the motorcycling gods that Rossi is, he not only crossed the full lap-timers 29 times but also set an impressive lap time of 1’23.244 – exactly 0.02 seconds off team mate Jorge Lorenzo and only 0.723 seconds off fastest rider Dani Pedrosa’s timing! The lap time makes Rossi the seventh fastest man on the grid after free practice 1. Stay tuned as we bring you all the action right here on Motoroids.com…
Final timings from today’s Free Practice 1:
| Pos. | Num. | Rider | Nation | Team | Bike | Km/h | Time | Gap 1st/Prev. |
| 1 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 280.1 | 1’22.521 | |
| 2 | 27 | Casey STONER | AUS | Ducati Team | Ducati | 278.9 | 1’22.795 | 0.274 / 0.274 |
| 3 | 69 | Nicky HAYDEN | USA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 276.6 | 1’22.983 | 0.462 / 0.188 |
| 4 | 11 | Ben SPIES | USA | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 273.6 | 1’23.189 | 0.668 / 0.206 |
| 5 | 58 | Marco SIMONCELLI | ITA | San Carlo Honda Gresini | Honda | 275.0 | 1’23.204 | 0.683 / 0.015 |
| 6 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | SPA | Fiat Yamaha Team | Yamaha | 277.0 | 1’23.224 | 0.703 / 0.020 |
| 7 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | ITA | Fiat Yamaha Team | Yamaha | 274.7 | 1’23.244 | 0.723 / 0.020 |
| 8 | 14 | Randy DE PUNIET | FRA | LCR Honda MotoGP | Honda | 275.8 | 1’23.260 | 0.739 / 0.016 |
| 9 | 33 | Marco MELANDRI | ITA | San Carlo Honda Gresini | Honda | 279.0 | 1’23.290 | 0.769 / 0.030 |
| 10 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | ITA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 277.8 | 1’23.400 | 0.879 / 0.110 |
| 11 | 36 | Mika KALLIO | FIN | Pramac Racing Team | Ducati | 276.9 | 1’23.422 | 0.901 / 0.022 |
| 12 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | SPA | Pramac Racing Team | Ducati | 270.7 | 1’23.430 | 0.909 / 0.008 |
| 13 | 5 | Colin EDWARDS | USA | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 272.9 | 1’23.440 | 0.919 / 0.010 |
| 14 | 65 | Loris CAPIROSSI | ITA | Rizla Suzuki MotoGP | Suzuki | 277.6 | 1’23.589 | 1.068 / 0.149 |
| 15 | 40 | Hector BARBERA | SPA | Paginas Amarillas Aspar | Ducati | 276.2 | 1’23.599 | 1.078 / 0.010 |
| 16 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | SPA | Rizla Suzuki MotoGP | Suzuki | 276.8 | 1’24.020 | 1.499 / 0.421 |
| 17 | 15 | Alex DE ANGELIS | RSM | Interwetten Honda MotoGP | Honda | 277.3 | 1’24.101 | 1.580 / 0.081 |