The Sachsenring is different this year. The track is around 200 metres and 3.2 seconds longer than before, raising average lap speed from 150kmh to 154kmh.

Max Biaggi is aiming to score his third pole position of the year tomorrow, having set the pace in today’s first qualifying session for the 2001 German GP. Second in Britain two weeks ago and currently second in the World Championship, Biaggi is riding on the crest of a wave, aiming to zero in on Word Championship leader Valentino Rossi (Honda).

"I’m quite satisfied, it’s always good to be in front," said the Roman. "The bike feels good, we’ve improved it since this morning and we’ve got some ideas to make it even better for tomorrow. We’ve made the bike more stable, which allows me to be more agile through the first section. Nothing’s changed with the chassis, it’s just a few tweaks to the front and rear suspension. Anyway, it must be all right, because I’m fastest! We’ve done a good job so far, but it’s only Friday, the more important days are yet to come and the weather is looking unpredictable, which could be crucial. The track changes are good, though they’ve not radically changed the overall character. The first part is still too tight for 500s, with no room to overtake. The new part is wider, with a faster corner, which means riders can use different lines. That should make overtaking easier, which will make the racing more interesting."

Sachsenring king Alex Barros led much of today’s opening session but slipped down the order as Max Biaggi and Shinya Nakano (Yamaha) took over. Barros retaliated to go fastest in the dying moments, before Biaggi finally prevailed. "We had some problems this morning," said Barros, winner here last year and lap-record holder in ’98 and ’99. "We didn’t have enough weight on the front, so the front-tyre contact wasn’t so good, so the bike wouldn’t turn. For this afternoon we changed the geometry and front suspension settings, and now it’s much better."

Carlos Checa is looking stronger than he’s looked all season - running up front throughout qualifying after topping this morning’s free practice session. The Spaniard ended the day a close fifth quickest, 0.513 seconds off his team-mate’s pole time, and attributes his new-found speed to further detail set-up changes.

"We tried a new geometry setting this morning and the bike feels better for me," said Checa who was second with just minutes to go. "We’ve been continuing in the same direction, trying to put more weight on the front to improve front-end grip, while also lifting weight off the rear to make it looser, for more easily controlled slides. Now we just have to work at perfecting the suspension balance to suit the new geometry setting. When I feel good on the bike, I feel more relaxed and the times come more easily. I really like the new section of the track, it’s one of my favourites. I like tracks that go up and down, like Jarama or Laguna Seca. The steep downhill run at turn 12 is great; maybe I’ll come back here in the winter with my snowboard!"

Series leader Valentino Rossi could only manage tenth this afternoon. "I’m having some trouble getting used to my bike after riding the four-stroke," said Rossi, who tested a Suzuka Eight Hour Superbike in Japan last week. "Also, the set-up isn’t right yet, the bike is slow to turn direction and I’m not getting good front-end feel. Plus we lost some time when the LCD display broke on one bike."

Garry McCoy was 11th quickest - "I couldn't wait to get back on the bike and felt good on it straight away. Throughout this morning and until halfway through this afternoon's session my left arm felt fine, and then without any real warning it started to feel weak. It wasn't actually giving me any pain; I just felt I didn¹t have any strength in it. I think the problem is that I still haven't been able to do any upper body work since the accident nine weeks ago. I'm disappointed because I was hoping to put some good laps in at the end of this afternoon's session.  Fortunately the bike feels pretty good and I don't think we'll have to make many changes tomorrow. I will probably take it easy tomorrow morning and make sure I'm fit to do a good qualifying time during the last session."

Proton Team KR rider Jurgen van den Goorbergh promised today that 15th position - on the fourth row of the provisional starting grid - was not the last word on Sunday's German GP.

The Dutch rider spent the first day of practice comparing two different engine configurations. Now he has decided which to use, and is fully confident that a better lap time and grid position will follow.

Today was the first outing for the all-new Big Bang engine - a different version of which was tested at the last GP at Donington Park in England. The close-firing-order engine is aimed at giving the rider a more gentle power delivery, so that he can open the throttle earlier on the corner exits to make the most of the higher corner speeds achieved by the three-cylinder lightweight Proton KR3.

After comparative tests today, Jurgen has decided to switch to the new engine exclusively tomorrow. However, riding two very different machines cost him the chance to try for an ultimate lap time today. Each felt very different from the other, and it would take several laps to adapt - time that would normally be spent working on lap times.

There is one more day of practice remaining before Sunday's German GP at the revised Sachsenring circuit - a tight and twisty track where the KR3 should excel.

"Today wasn't easy," commented Jurgen, "starting again with two configurations and going from one bike to the other. They are very different to ride. I prefer the new engine. It is much smoother and nicer to ride. The disadvantage is we need to find some power that has gone missing, which should be a matter of looking at the data and making some adjustments - you can't expect perfect results first time out with a new configuration. The grip was not good this morning either, which is bad for us. We need good grip to use our cornering advantages. It improved in the afternoon, and should be better again tomorrow, as long as it doesn't rain. Tomorrow we can close the gap on the leaders - perhaps not to zero, but quite a lot anyway".

Noriyuki Haga 16th - "This is the first time I have ever raced here and it is a very difficult track to learn - lots of blind left hand corners. I also had a problem with the suspension and couldn't get a good feeling from the bike."