Sete Gibernau set the second fastest time on the first day of free practice at the German Grand Prix on Monday. The tenth round of the MotoGP World Championship began today in suffocating heat, with ambient temperatures reaching 35ºC and 46ºC recorded on the track – completely opposite conditions to those endured in England five days ago but with weather forecasts predicting more rain.

Honda dominated the provisional front row with Barros, Gibernau and Hayden clocking the three fastest times of the day. Sete lapped consistently in both sessions as he looked to find a compromise for the bike at the slowest and most tortuous track on the calendar. In the morning the Spaniard lapped in low 1’24s and in the afternoon he lowered his best lap to a 1’23.915, times he hopes to improve if the good weather continues tomorrow.

Marco Melandri was 14th fastest today, seven tenths off Barros, after trying several different set-up solutions 

SETE GIBERNAU (2^nd, 1’23”915): “It is really hot and the riders, machine and tyres all suffer in equal measures. In fact, in such high temperatures the grip levels drop a lot and that is why we have seen so many crashes. Personally I feel really good, better than I have all season. At this circuit there are there are two very different sections and you have to find a good compromise with the set-up. We’ve taken steps forward throughout the day. We have done a lot of reflecting and I’m convinced we can get a good result here and go on holiday with the peace of mind that we are back where we belong.”

MARCO MELANDRI (14^th, 1’24”513): “Sachsenring is a peculiar circuit, where you can’t use the data from any other tracks. It is very short and there are a lot of riders within just seven tenths of the fastest time. We’ve based our work on the race, making the most of the two hours available dry time in case it rains tomorrow. I’m happy and I feel good on the bike, even though it slides a lot in this heat. Tomorrow we will keep working to prepare ourselves for the second half of the race.”

LAP TIMES

1. Alex Barros (Bra/Honda) 1’23”808
2. Sete Gibernau (Esp/Honda) + 0”107
3. Nicky Hayden (USA/Honda) + 0”187
4. Carlos Checa (Esp/Ducati)+ 0”246
5. Shinya Nakano (Jap/Kawasaki) + 0”305
....
14. Marco Melandri (Ita/Honda) + 0”705