The E-pole of the newly-born MotoE World Cup was a bit of past and future at the Sachsenring. Picking up from the old-school Superbike Superpole but with the all-electric prototypes by Energica, Team Trentino Gresini MotoE got on track to battle for the first starting grid of the season.

With one single lap for every rider, Savadori and Ferrari make the most of the opportunity. The first one of the two to launch himself on the main straight was Lorenzo Savadori, who did not shine in free practice – due to his FP1 crash – but did well in setting his so-far quickest lap of the weekend (1’29.959secs) and claiming the 11thplace on the grid.

Matteo Ferrari did even better by being the first rider to lap under the 1’29secs mark: the 1’28.792secs time placed him on the second row, so the #11 can now challenge at the front with a great pace on his side.

The opening race in the history of MotoE will begin at 10:00, with the question mark of the rain that is expected to make its appearance tonight at the Sachsenring – and potentially shuffling the cards for the win.

The inaugural day of action at Sachsenring saw the first free practice sessions of the newly-born FIM MotoE World Cup and for Team Trentino Gresini was a bittersweet day.

Matteo Ferrari was very active on track (16 laps completed) and was among the fastest riders as the maiden session got underway before showing a great pace and logging a personal best of 1’29.496secs lap-time, which was competitive enough to place him within today’s top-10. The 11 still has some room for improvement on the second split, but he generally claimed a good feeling with the bike and the track.

On the other side of the pit-box, Lorenzo Savadori did not enjoy a positive day: the #32 experienced a high-side at turn one few minutes into the opening sessions, meaning he could only ride in the afternoon. Lorenzo got away with a painful leg, which did not allow him to be at his best in the afternoon, although he is confident to be back to full fitness tomorrow.

MotoE proceedings will resume tomorrow at 4pm for the single-lap E-Pole qualifying session, which gets underway at 4pm local time (GMT+2).

FINAL GP BEFORE THE SUMMER BREAK ON THE SACHSENRING

ANDREA IANNONE KEEN TO CONFIRM THE GROWTH TREND SEEN IN ASSEN

GOOD NEWS EXPECTED FROM ALEIX ESPARGARÓ ON RECOVERY FROM THE BARCELONA ACCIDENT

Before the summer break, MotoGP makes a stop in Germany to tackle the 3.7 kilometres of the Sachsenring. It is the shortest track on the calendar, but full of treachery: with 10 left-handers and only 3 right-handers, the German asphalt puts the engineers to the test, especially in tyre choice and use. On this subject, all the Michelins allocated for the German GP are asymmetrically constructed, with softer compound on the right side.

Aprilia heads to Germany after the good result in Assen, with Andrea Iannone increasingly more competitive, finishing the race in the top 10. These are the first fruits of much work put in by the Italian rider and his team. The biggest question mark for Aleix in Holland had to do with his physical condition after the crash in Barcelona, doubts that the Spanish rider overcame by gritting his teeth and taking home precious points in the race. The situation is improving steadily but, with only a few days of rest, Aleix’s condition will be put to a hard test by the short German circuit which is physically extremely demanding.

ALEIX ESPARGARO'
"After the Assen race, my knee had swollen up a lot, so as soon as I got home, I continued with rehabilitation. The goal is to be able to ride more smoothly on the Sachsenring, a track where I have always felt particularly good."

ANDREA IANNONE
"The German track is very complicated, narrow and twisty. It will be an important test bench for us. We are working a lot on managing the electronics and on a circuit like this one, we’ll be able to assess our progress from this point of view. The goal is to have another good weekend after the one in Assen, where we had a nice confidence boost."

IAM RoadSmart has backed calls for a long-term plan to tackle the ‘national scandal’ of potholes on UK roads – saying nearly half of people it surveyed have experienced pothole damage to their vehicles.

The government’s Transport Select Committee has today (1 July) issued a report stating that the current short-term approach to financing road maintenance as being "not fit for purpose" – which IAM RoadSmart, the UK’s biggest independent road safety charity, agrees with.

The report says: “Potholes are a headache for everyone and a severe risk for many, says the report. A deteriorating local road network undermines local economic performance and results in direct costs to taxpayers, either through rising costs of deferred work or through a mend and make do approach that does not represent good value for money in the long-term.

“It also damages vehicles and causes injuries to passengers, particularly those with existing medical conditions,” it added.

A previous survey of more than 7,000 IAM RoadSmart members responded on line with a clear majority thinking that our roads have become much worse in recent years, that there are many more potholes than ever before, and that they have to swerve to avoid potholes on every journey.

Some 47% - over 3,400 respondents – say they have experienced damage to their car, commercial vehicle, motorbike or bicycle or personal injury as a result of hitting a pothole.

Around 90% have spotted a deterioration of some level in the roads they use with just over 50% rating the state of their roads as ‘much worse’ in the past three years and 38% rating them ‘worse.’

Some 81% - close to 6,000 people – say they have noticed ‘many more’ potholes in the past three years, adding in the 13% who have seen ‘a few more,’ that gives a total of 94% who report more potholes.

Over 56% say they have to take avoiding action on every journey to dodge potholes, while 27% say they have to steer around a pothole every day.

An Asphalt Industry Alliance investigation found that councils in England and Wales would need to spend a total of £9.8 billion over 10 years to bring all their roads up to standard.

Rodney Kumar, IAM RoadSmart spokesman, said: “While we understand that local government funding has been cut, the effect of pothole damage to beleaguered British motorists is huge. It costs them a fortune, stops them getting to work and has a detrimental effect on the economy.

“It really is time to ring-fence funds for tackling this pothole epidemic, and get the problem sorted once and for all.”