Pedrosa’s stunning time in the high 1.37s was sufficient to oust local rider, Yamaha Factory Racing’s Ben Spies into second, who looked back to his old self as he lapped his home circuit. Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo came in third, yet aborted his final hot lap on the final turn, denying a true indication of his outright pace.
Italian Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider Andrea Dovizioso cam in fourth, who was only marginally behind the Spanish Yamaha rider on board his satellite Yamaha machine.
The best lap of Casey Stoner saw him finish the day in fifth, although the Australian rider looked to have rear suspension issues during the practice session, meaning he spent the final five minutes on his second Honda bike.
British Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider Cal Crutchlow took sixth spot, doing pretty well to recover from his crash in the morning. Spanish San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Alvaro Bautista came in seventh. Bautista was over 1.2 seconds off the top spot set by the factory Honda, and will be looking for significant improvements tomorrow.
German LCR Honda rider Stefan Bradl cam in eight, who is taking to the Brickyard for the first time on his LCR Honda MotoGP bike. American Ducati rider Nicky Hayden and his Italian companion Valentino Rossi completed the top ten, after a disappointing session for the Ducati Team.
Power Electronics Aspar rider Randy de Puniet was the top CRT rider, while the grid also welcomed GPTech wildcard riders Aaron Yates and Attack Performance rider Steve Rapp. The Attack Performance rider was however garage bound for the afternoon session as his team struggled with bike issues.
Most of the riders started the practice session on the softer option rear tyre and as the track temperature increased they switched to the harder option. Pedrosa’s hot lap was set on the harder option rear during a seven lap stint at the end.
Pramac Racing Team fielded Spain's Toni Elías for the second free practice session, after Hector Barbera’s big highside in the morning session. Barbera, who crashed heavily in the final turn suffered fractures in his dorsal vertebrae 5, 6 and 8, rendering him unfit for this weekend. After the incident Barbera was taken to the Indianapolis Methodist Hospital, where he will be kept overnight for observation
