Stoner seventh at Estoril

From Marlboro Ducati

After dominating the opening free practice session for the Grand Prix of Portugal on a damp and cold morning at Estoril, Casey Stoner struggled to seventh place Friday afternoon with a time of 1:39.202 as the track dried out and temperatures rose slightly.

The World Champion was one of a number of riders who fell victim to the tricky track conditions, crashing on the exit of the chicane but escaping injury as he laboured to find a good feeling with the front end of his Desmosedici GP8.

"These are completely different problems to the ones we had in Jerez," Stoner said. "So far I'm still having absolutely no feeling with the front end and I can't explain why we crashed on an out lap, going slow, with the bike upright. I was literally cruising, just picking the bike up on the way out of the corner and the front decided to give up on me."

Marco Melandri experimented with a new set-up strategy but was unable to report any major improvements. However, his final outing did bear some fruit and the Italian will be looking to make quick progress Saturday. He finished the day 15th with a time of 1:41.112.

The weather forecast again looks to be unstable for Saturday, with improvements expected for Sunday.