A rain swept qualifying session at Sachsenring was also a crash fest for numerous riders, but it was Valentino Rossi on his last lap that shocked the grid, taking the pole position with 1.
32.
52 and leaving team mate Jorge Lorenzo in second, a massive 0.
640s difference.
Casey Stoner was third, chosing to sit out the final minutes after seeing a run of crashes and trying to save some energy for tomorrow’s race.
Fourth was a new found Nicky Hayden on his Ducati.
Hayden was one of the riders who crashed in the final minutes of the session.
His highside sent him flying through the air, his body hitting Niccolò Canepa on the back and knocking him off his bike.
Hayden walked away from the crash, while Canepa was stretchered away.
Other riders to crash out at the same corner were Randy De Puniet, Marco Melandri, Toni Elias, Alex DeAngelis and Loris Capirossi all in the last twenty minutes of qualifying.
Two Honda satellite riders will be starting on the second row, DeAngelis in fifth and DePuniet sixth.
Colin Edwards, will start from seventh position, while Laguna Seca winner Dani Pedrosa will start from eighth.
Capirossi in ninth and Mika Kallio closed the top ten.
Andrea Dovizioso in 11th and Chris Vermeulen in 12th.
Melandri, James Toseland and Niccolò Canepa , respectively 13th, 14th and 15th, while Gabor Talmacsi in his first full wet qualifying session will start in 16th and Toni Elias in 17th.
MotoGP Qualifying:1.
Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 1:32.
5202.
Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 1:33.
1603.
Casey Stoner (Ducati) 1:33.
7594.
Nicky Hayden (Ducati) 1:34.
4045.
Alex De Angelis (Honda) 1:34.
4906.
Randy De Puniet (Honda) 1:34.
5647.
Colin Edwards (Yamaha) 1:34.
6078.
Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 1:34.
7259.
Loris Capirossi (Suzuki) 1:34.
74110.
Mika Kallio (Ducati) 1:34.
77111.
Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) 1:34.
89212.
Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki) 1:34.
93713.
Marco Melandri (Kawasaki) 1:34.
93814.
James Toseland (Yamaha) 1:35.
00515.
Niccolo Canepa (Ducati) 1:36.
01216.
Gabor Talmacsi (Honda) 1:36.
05517.
Toni Elias (Honda) 1:36.
531