Jorge Lorenzo threw down the gauntlet to his Honda rivals by setting the fastest time of the weekend on Saturday morning at the Sachsenring. The World Champion was setting a consistent pace early in the session, lapping comfortably in the mid-1:22s before improving to a 1:22.112 with a minute to go.
The pacesetter on Friday, Marco Simoncelli moved straight to the top of the timesheets when the session got underway, but Dani Pedrosa reproduced some of his best form to go 0.006s quicker than the Italian with a quarter of an hour to go.
Moments later, Simoncelli was setting personal best sector times in reply but the San Carlo Gresini rider joined the list of big names to crash at turn 11, effectively ending his session.
This opened the path for Lorenzo to go quickest with Pedrosa and Simoncelli completing the top three. Casey Stoner remained slightly off the pace in fourth with Andrea Dovizioso right on his tail in fifth on the third Repsol Honda.
Nicky Hayden's promising weekend continued with sixth place on the GP11 Ducati, lapping within a tenth of a second of the two Repsol Hondas directly ahead of him. Alvaro Bautista was similarly impressive on the Rizla Suzuki, closing to within half a second of the leaders.
Ben Spies was eighth on the second factory Yamaha while Randy de Puniet finished in the top ten once again as Pramac Ducati's strong weekend continued. The same can't be said for Monster Yamaha Tech3 though, with Colin Edwards only managing tenth and Cal Crutchlow 13th as they continued to struggle with a lack of grip.
Between them was a pair of Ducatis, both experiencing very different challenges. Czech rookie Karel Abraham took 11th on his privateer machine while Valentino Rossi battled his way to 12th on the factory GP11.1.
Hiroshi Aoyama ended the morning in 14th ahead of Hector Barbera who despite finishing down in 15th, was just 1.281s off the pace. Toni Elias and Sylvain Guintoli brought up the rear in 16th and 17th respectively.
Free Practice 3 Result:
| Pos | Rider | Nat | Bike | Team | Time/Gap |
| 1 | Jorge Lorenzo | SPA | Yamaha | Yamaha Factory Racing | 1:22.112 |
| 2 | Dani Pedrosa | SPA | Honda | Repsol Honda Team | +0.041 |
| 3 | Marco Simoncelli | ITA | Honda | San Carlo Honda Gresini | +0.047 |
| 4 | Casey Stoner | AUS | Honda | Repsol Honda Team | +0.274 |
| 5 | Andrea Dovizioso | ITA | Honda | Repsol Honda Team | +0.329 |
| 6 | Nicky Hayden | USA | Ducati | Ducati Team | +0.388 |
| 7 | Alvaro Bautista | SPA | Suzuki | Rizla Suzuki MotoGP | +0.482 |
| 8 | Ben Spies | USA | Yamaha | Yamaha Factory Racing | +0.660 |
| 9 | Randy de Puniet | FRA | Ducati | Pramac Racing Team | +0.729 |
| 10 | Colin Edwards | USA | Yamaha | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | +1.006 |
| 11 | Karel Abraham | CZE | Ducati | Cardion AB Motoracing | +1.156 |
| 12 | Valentino Rossi | ITA | Ducati | Ducati Team | +1.167 |
| 13 | Cal Crutchlow | GBR | Yamaha | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | +1.184 |
| 14 | Hiroshi Aoyama | JAP | Honda | San Carlo Honda Gresini | +1.250 |
| 15 | Hector Barbera | SPA | Ducati | Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP | +1.281 |
| 16 | Toni Elias | SPA | Honda | LCR Honda MotoGP | +2.134 |
| 17 | Sylvain Guintoli | FRA | Ducati | Pramac Racing Team | +3.863 |
