Wet conditions during this afternoon’s second free practice meant that none of the Moto2 riders improved their times from this morning’s session, in which Mika Kallio posted the fourth fastest time. Scott Redding ended the day 11th fastest, after using the dry morning session to confirm settings and gearing on his Kalex Moto2 machine.

Kallio was quick off the mark as this morning’s opening practice session got underway in almost perfect conditions. The 29-year-old Finn, who made his Grand Prix debut at the Sachsenring circuit back in 2001, broke into the top five on the timesheet with his first run, improving further as the session progressed to eventually finish fourth fastest overall.

Kallio’s Marc VDS teammate, Redding, used the opening practice session to evaluate both set-up and gearing changes on his Kalex Moto2 machine, while running on the least preferred of the two tyre options Dunlop has supplied for this weekend. The 19-year-old Briton was happy with the changes, which he hoped to confirm during this afternoon’s second 45-minute practice session.

Unfortunately for both Marc VDS riders, the onset of rain shortly before the start of free practice two, followed by intermittent showers throughout, meant they were limited to confirming only wet settings. However, with more thunderstorms forecast for Sunday, it could well be these settings that are needed for the 29-lap race.

Mika Kallio #36: 4th – 1’25.606
“Sachsenring is a bit of a special track for me, so we came here with a clear plan for today’s practice sessions. This morning I just concentrated on doing my own thing, putting in the laps and getting a good feel for the bike on this track. The lap time came quite easily; the bike feels good here and I think there’s still more to come. We were hoping to confirm a few setting changes this afternoon, but the weather put paid to that. We did manage to get out for a few laps on wets right at the end of the session, which could come in handy on race day if the predicted thunderstorms do make an appearance.”

Scott Redding #45 11th – 1’26.017
“This morning we decided to use the opening session to try a few different things on the bike, using the tyre option that we know from the past doesn’t really suit my riding style here at the Sachsenring. The plan was to switch to the other tyre this afternoon, to put in some faster laps, but we never got the chance because of the weather. Every time we put wets on the bike it started to dry up, only for it to start raining again as soon as we switched to slicks. It was the same for everyone, of course, but I think we’re all hoping for two dry sessions tomorrow.”

Michael Bartholemy: Team Principal
“While today wasn’t wasted, it wasn’t as productive as we hoped it would be because of the rain this afternoon. Mika was quickly up to speed this morning and he looks really comfortable on the bike here. He made some small changes to improve the bike at specific parts of the track, but the rain this afternoon meant he wasn’t able to confirm these. Scott did the whole of this morning’s session on the tyre we know we can’t use for the race, evaluating changes to both the set-up and the gearing on the bike. This afternoon he was planning to switch to his preferred tyre but, again, the weather put paid to that. It was a solid start to the weekend, with no crashes in the difficult conditions, but I hope the weather is a little kinder to us tomorrow.”