Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden lapped near the top of the order on a damp Sachsenring on Friday.

As has often been the case during the early part of the season, the first day of practice at the German Grand Prix was marked by extremely variable weather conditions, with a dry free practice followed by a wet afternoon session.

Weather permitting, tomorrow will see the Ducati Team continuing its work on the dry setup with which Nicky Hayden and Valentino Rossi finished seventh and eleventh, respectively, in this morning’s session. As is typically the case on damp surfaces, both riders were very fast in the second free practice, regularly running near the top of the time chart. In the end, the Italian was fifth quickest, one position ahead of his American teammate

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