However, the Fortuna Aprilia rider - certain to graduate to MotoGP next year - finished the afternoon just 0.071secs in front of Gilera's Marco Simoncelli, the Italian enjoying a welcome revival.

Aprilia riders Alex de Angelis and Hector Barbera complete the provisional front row, with KTM's Mika Kallio currently heading row two.


First qualifying - Sachsenring:

1. Lorenzo (Aprilia)
2. Simoncelli (Gilera) +0.071secs
3. de Angelis (Aprilia) +0.146secs
4. Barbera (Aprilia) +0.253secs
5. Kallio (KTM) +0.255secs
6. Dovizioso (Honda) +0.294secs
7. Luthi (Aprilia) +0.383secs
8. H. Aoyama (KTM) +0.473secs
9. Bautista (Aprilia) +0.822secs
10. Simon (Honda) +0.849secs

24. Linfoot (Aprilia) +3.429secs
26. Laverty (Honda) +3.949secs