Aleix Espargaro’s magnificent run of form looks like continuing after the Spaniard topped the Friday practice times at the Sachsenring. The Forward Racing rider, fresh from his maiden MotoGP pole at Assen two weeks ago, was quickest in both sessions ahead the unbeaten world champion Marc Marquez.
Espargaro had been experimenting with a Yamaha chassis as well as his Forward machine and was encouraged by his performance on both specifications of motorcycle.
“We continue our positive momentum. With Barcelona and Assen, this is the third race that we are constantly improving and today I’m satisfied because in the FP2 we tested the Forward chassis and it worked really well. We set the third fastest time with a tyre that had 22 laps on and the feeling was very positive. Sachsenring is a very special track for its layout and we will need to test it also on other circuits, but the feeling was really good. Tomorrow we will continue to work in this direction and if everything works well I want to use it also for the qualifying. I have also enjoyed riding here at Sachsenring. I’m confident because we have a good race pace and tomorrow we can make another step forward”.
Marquez was the man to make many of the headlines following a spectacular fall in first practice this morning. The championship leader highsided as he exited turn two, an accident he later took full responsibility for, and looked visibly winded as he gingerly walked away. Marc recovered to finish the day in second spot, only losing out to Espargaro in the latter stages of FP2.
Jorge Lorenzo took third ahead of home favourite Stefan Bradl with Alvaro Bautista fifth for Gresini Honda. Valentino Rossi was the only rider to go slower in the afternoon than he had in the morning and fell from third to sixth, narrowly ahead of Andrea Iannone and Pol Espargaro who also impressed early on.
Pol’s Tech 3 teammate Bradley Smith had a disastrous start to the weekend, crashing twice in the opening session, and will head into FP3 outside the crucial top ten. Michael Laverty climbed into tenth late in the afternoon with a stunning lap and although he fell to fourteenth after a crash, the Ulsterman was still just 0.887s off the ultimate pace.
 2014 ENI MOTORRAD GRAND PRIX DEUTSCHLAND – COMBINED FREE PRACTICE CLASSIFICATION |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| POS | RIDER | MOTORCYCLE | TEAM | TIME |
| 1 |  41. ALEIX ESPARGARO |
FORWARD YAMAHA | NGM FORWARD RACING | 1:22.041 |
| 2 | 93. MARC MARQUEZ |
HONDA | REPSOL HONDA TEAM | 1:22.158 |
| 3 | 99. JORGE LORENZO |
YAMAHA | MOVISTAR YAMAHA MOTOGP | 1:22.368 |
| 4 | 6. STEFAN BRADL |
HONDA | LCR HONDA MOTOGP | 1:22.430 |
| 5 | 19. ALVARO BAUTISTA |
HONDA | GO&FUN HONDA GRESINI | 1:22.440 |
| 6 |  46. VALENTINO ROSSI |
YAMAHA | MOVISTAR YAMAHA MOTOGP | 1:22.466 |
| 7 | 29. ANDREA IANNONE |
DUCATI | PRAMAC RACING | 1:22.565 |
| 8 | 44. POL ESPARGARO |
YAMAHA | MONSTER YAMAHA TECH 3 | 1:22.569 |
| 9 | 4. ANDREA DOVIZIOSO |
DUCATI | DUCATI TEAM | 1:22.576 |
| 10 | 26. DANI PEDROSA |
HONDA | REPSOL HONDA TEAM | 1:22.589 |
| 11 |  38. BRADLEY SMITH |
YAMAHA | MONSTER YAMAHA TECH 3 | 1:22.719 |
| 12 |  68. YONNY HERNANDEZ |
DUCATI | PRAMAC RACING | 1:22.724 |
| 13 | 35. CAL CRUTCHLOW |
DUCATI | DUCATI TEAM | 1:22.757 |
| 14 | 70. MICHAEL LAVERTY |
PBM | PAUL BIRD MOTORSPORT | 1:22.928 |
| 15 | 45. SCOTT REDDING |
HONDA | GO&FUN HONDA GRESINI | 1:22.933 |
| 16 |  7. HIROSHI AOYAMA |
HONDA | DRIVE M7 ASPAR | 1:22.961 |
| 17 |  17. KAREL ABRAHAM |
HONDA | CARDION AB MOTORACING | 1:23.049 |
| 18 |  69. NICKY HAYDEN |
HONDA | DRIVE M7 ASPAR | 1:23.204 |
| 19 | 5. COLIN EDWARDS |
FORWARD YAHAMA | NGM FORWARD RACING | 1:23.327 |
| 20 | 8. HECTOR BARBERA |
AVINTIA | AVINTIA RACING | 1:23.393 |
| 21 |  63. MIKE DI MEGLIO |
AVINTIA | AVINTIA RACING | 1:23.858 |
| 22 | 9. DANILO PETRUCCI |
ART | OCTO IODARACING TEAM | 1:23.912 |
| 23 |  23. BROC PARKES |
PBM | PAUL BIRD MOTORSPORT | 1:24.158 |
