Marco Simoncelli topped the times in the second practice session for Sunday's German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring.

The Honda Gresini rider posted a best time of one minute 22.225 seconds, over half a second quicker than his time in Friday morning's opening practice session, in which the Italian also went quickest.

The second session was run in warmer and less windy conditions than the opener, which was marred by five separate accidents involving some of the sports biggest names.

Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa, Cal Crutchlow and Toni Elias suffered falls, but all escaped serious injury.

Simoncelli's second-session benchmark was just 0.095s in front of defending world champion Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha), while Pedrosa, winner at the Sachsenring a year ago, took a strong third in just his second event back since missing three races with a broken collarbone.

The Spaniard finished just ahead of his Repsol Honda team-mates Stoner, the current championship leader, and Andrea Dovizioso, who were fourth and fifth respectively.

Nicky Hayden was the quickest of the Ducati riders in sixth, ahead of fellow American Ben Spies on the second factory Yamaha.

Pramac Racing's Randy de Puniet, Alvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) and Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing) completed the top 10.

Rossi, who had to be checked over at the medical centre following his morning shunt, endured another trying session as he could manage only 12th fastest before his involvement was curtailed by a late electrical issue.

The Italian finished just behind the struggling Tech 3 Yamaha of Colin Edwards, whose British team-mate Crutchlow was down in 14th.

MotoGP championship leader Casey Stoner grabbed his sixth pole position of the season after setting the fastest time in qualifying at the German Grand Prix.

The Australian lapped the Sachsenring circuit in 1 minute 21.681 seconds to beat Repsol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa to top spot by a quarter of a second.

Stoner managed to turn his fortunes around after being off the pace on Friday after crashing out in the morning session.

"I'm very happy with the outcome. I wasn't too confident on the quick part of the track where I crashed but we have recovered a lot of time since Friday," he said.

Pedrosa, who is still getting back up to speed after three races out with a broken collarbone, edged out defending world champion Jorge Lorenzo for second place on the grid.

Italian rider Marco Simoncelli just missed out on a front-row slot as he set a time one hundredth of a second slower than Lorenzo and had to settle for fourth.

Ben Spies will start from fifth place while the third Repsol Honda of Andrea Dovizioso completed the second row.

Colin Edwards was seventh ahead of fellow American Nicky Hayden, whose Ducati team-mate Valentino Rossi could only manage 16th after a miserable session.

Dani Pedrosa brought an end to his injury nightmare by taking victory in the German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring.

The Spaniard recently returned from a three-race absence due to a broken collarbone and looked to finally be back to his best as he grabbed the win ahead of Jorge Lorenzo and Repsol Honda team-mate Casey Stoner.

Title rivals Lorenzo and Stoner had both led the race earlier on but had to be content with fighting for second, with the Spaniard claiming the spot after a pass at the final corner.

Andrea Dovizioso and Ben Spies completed the top five ahead of Marco Simoncelli, while Alvaro Bautista edged out the Ducatis of Nicky Hayden and Valentino Rossi for seventh. British rider Cal Crutchlow came home in 14th place.

Lorenzo stalled his bike on the warm-up lap but recovered to take his place on the grid and moved up into second place at the start, with Pedrosa taking the lead and Stoner slipping to third.

All in all, the British Grand Prix weekend was action-packed. The race itself was an absorbing contest shaped in part by the English summer, with reversals of fortune on the track - not to mention in the pitlane - giving a result which, while not the one wanted by the home fans, was certainly welcome in the context of the current season.

It also put the kerfuffle over the clampdown on the use of off-throttle blown diffusers in its place. At one stage, it seemed as though the FIA's to-ing and fro-ing as it tried in vain to provide an equitable solution to the problem might even overshadow the racing. Would that have been the case if Sebastian Vettel had led for the entire 52 laps?

With the governing body set to reverse its edict, it now seems that questions of whether or not Red Bull or McLaren might lose out, or that Ferrari might be the big gainers, are moot. If the whole thing did just turn out to be a big waste of hot air, then perhaps there's an irony in there somewhere.

Mark Webber, for one, wasn't impressed. "It's nonsense. Nobody really understands it. We don't know what's going on," he said after taking pole position on Saturday, when matters were reaching a head. "It's very boring for the fans. I am sure only 0.1 percent of the fans understand what's going on." He added: "Let's get on with the racing and keep the rules as simple as we can."

Q: This issue arose shortly before the Spanish Grand Prix. Was it initiated by the FIA or did it come from an F1 team?

"The matter was initiated by the FIA when facts concerning some quite extreme, and hitherto unseen, engine mapping began to emerge. We were concerned that exhaust tailpipes were being positioned and engine maps created with the primary objective of improving in the aerodynamic performance of the car. Prior to that it had been assumed that any aerodynamic benefits were incidental to the primary purpose of the engine and its exhausts, i.e. that of generating torque."

Why did you decide to act?

"We decided to act as, not only did we consider such extreme mapping to be arguably illegal, but also if such freedom was left unchecked it would result in the teams incurring significant further development costs during the season."

Is the off-throttle blown diffuser illegal under the 2011 technical regulations?

"We certainly consider them to be questionable, however, the key is whether or not we consider any particular engine map to have been created for any other reason than the generation of engine torque."

Is its illegality an unforeseen side-effect of the rule to ban F-Ducts?

"No, the two are unconnected."

Why was it not possible to simple introduce blanket limits on hot and cold-blowing and apply them equally to every car?

"This is precisely what we attempted to do in the first communication to the teams on 12 May. However, it soon became apparent that the matter was more complex than initially thought. The main problem was the difficulty of ensuring that teams were not prevented from using existing legitimate strategies whilst ensuring that the extreme mapping was no longer possible. This is why we postponed the introduction of the measures until the British Grand Prix. There are also a number of other mechanical factors to take into account such as the architecture of the engine throttles themselves (butterfly or barrel operation)."

Michael Schumacher is looking forward to some home comfort as the Formula One season heads to his native Germany.

F1 goes to the Nurburgring track next weekend where Schumacher has taken to the top step of the podium no fewer than five times.

But his chances of a sixth victory in front of his fellow countrymen are slim, with his Mercedes GP team still struggling to get the best out of their W02.

However, there were positive signs for the British-based team at the previous race at Silverstone when Schumacher and Nico Rosberg claimed a double points-finish.

"We go to the next race weekend with a good feeling added to our fighting spirit. "
Michael Schumacher Quotes of the week

Now Schumacher is hoping for further improvements at the German GP.
Boost

"With two home races in a row, we are fortunate to be given an extra boost as we head to the Nurburgring next week for the German Grand Prix, just two weeks after Silverstone," said the seven-time world champ.

"This season has been a difficult one for performance predictions so far, however I can predict one thing for sure - the extra boost we are receiving will be transformed into extra motivation.

"We saw some improvements over the Silverstone weekend with our new exhaust system, along with improvements to how we work with the tyres, so we go to the next race weekend with a good feeling added to our fighting spirit.

"We definitely want to show our home crowds our best level of performance possible."
Proud

The German legend, who last won at Nurburgring in the 2006 European Grand Prix, is also looking forward to competing on a track where one of the corners, Turn 8 and 9, is named after him.

He added: "It will be the first time that I race through the corner which is named after me, and obviously I would like to believe that this is not only making me proud, but also even faster."

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger does not want the transfer saga surrounding Cesc Fabregas's future to drag on this summer.

For the second summer in succession the Gunners captain has been strongly linked with a return to Barcelona, whom he left to join Arsenal as a 16-year-old in 2003.

Barcelona are hopeful of landing the Spain international, but as yet have not been able to agree a fee for his services.

Wenger wants a quick end to the uncertainty over his captain's future one way or another before the new season gets underway next month as he does not want it to affect the rest of his squad.

"We have to stop at some stage...I hope we can close that very quickly in our favour," said Wenger.

"For us, it's important that the team settles psychologically as quickly as possible because we have a tough start."

"We have to stop at some stage...I hope we can close that very quickly in our favour."
Arsene Wenger on Cesc Fabregas's future Quotes of the week

Arsenal take on Cologne in a pre-season friendly on Saturday, and asked if Fabregas would feature, the Frenchman added: "We will have to see how far he is with his (hamstring) injury...normally, yes," he said.

"He is not back in full training, he is back running on the pitch and the next step is to be back in full training.

"I will have to assess him on Monday. He is in our plans. The problem we face is speculation from everywhere but my target is the same - to keep players and my desire to fight for that is the same."

Sergio Aguero's agent has confirmed the Atletico Madrid striker will sort out his future this week, amid talk of an impending move to Manchester City.

City boss Roberto Mancini confirmed his interest in Argentine ace Aguero over the weekend as he seeks a replacement for Carlos Tevez.

Tevez is poised for a move away from Eastlands after the club accepted a bid from Corinthians for their skipper and now City are expected to step up their interest in Aguero.

Real Madrid and Juventus have also been linked with a move for Aguero who has informed Atletico Madrid of his desire to leave the Vicente Calderon this summer.

Aguero's agent Hernan Reguera admits the striker's future will be resolved soon, now that Argentina are no longer in the Copa America.

"He wanted the Copa America to end to sit down and talk. During this week everything will be settled," Reguera told Ole.

"Aguero has made a lot of important things for Atletico. He renewed his contract when he was one year away from becoming a free agent, he has played over 200 matches, he spent two years without vacations.

"He is thankful to the fans and to the club's board. We have been talking about this for two months.