In the morning the Repsol Honda Team rider finished eleventh but as the day went on he got better and the set up on the bike improved too, and so the lap times lowered up to the point where at the end he was third at the end of the second session. Pedrosa could have gone a little faster, but on the last couple of laps he was impeded by other slower riders when he was doing his fastest laps of the day.
And if the first day can be classified as positive for Pedrosa the same cannot be said about his team mate Nicky Hayden. In spite of finishing seventh in the first session Hayden had different mechanical problems, and a fall in the morning stopped him from continuing with his training during the first free session. In the afternoon, more mechanical problems stopped him from putting in a good performance and he finished towards the back of the field in 17th position. Hayden is aware that tomorrow he will have to work very hard to reach the level that his rivals have reached.
In the 250cc category things have not gone well for the riders in the Repsol Honda Team on the twisty German track. Julián Simón finished the timed training in 10th position, and a little upset with being in such a low position. The Repsol rider was optimistic though as his evolution during the day was positive, and as he did more and more laps of the Sachsenring circuit he has got better adapted to it. Referring to the definitive timed session tomorrow Simón is convinced that he can improve since today`s work has all been in the right direction.
The same cannot be said about his team mate Shuhei Aoyama, who has experienced a difficult time on the German track. After the training his best time was almost 4 seconds slower than the provisional pole. After 42 laps the Repsol rider had not found the way to get better sensations from his Honda, and he will have to work hard tomorrow to find the set up that will allow him to set competitive times.
In the 125cc category, the young Bradley Smith was back on his bike after missing the race in Holland after a bad fall – he injured his left leg and hand. Smith got much better as the day passed as he recoved his confidence on the Honda. He was 20th in the morning after the free training, but in the afternoon the young rider from Oxford made a spectacular jump up to 7th position in the first timed session, a great result taking into account the injuries he received just under two weeks ago. His team mate Esteve Rabat, 15th in the morning session at a circuit that is not one of his favourites, fell back during the afternoon and is provisionally on the fifth row of the grid after setting the 20th best time.
