Strong start for Rossi

From Yamaha Racing

Valentino Rossi finished the first day of practice for the Portuguese Grand Prix in confident mood Friday, riding his Fiat Yamaha Team M1 to second place on a day of contrasting weather conditions at Estoril.

The Italian, the most successful rider in MotoGP history at this circuit, was luckily unhurt in a nasty crash during the morning's wet first practice session and went on to make some good progress this afternoon, finishing the day just 0.040 seconds off the leader Dani Pedrosa.

His crash came midway through the morning practice but he was unhurt and was able to continue on his second bike, finishing second and quite pleased with his wet-weather pace.

The afternoon session was a much cheerier affair with the sun and wind combining to dry the track out almost completely, and Rossi took full advantage to work on his set-up and tyres, finishing with a best time of 1:38.547.

"I am happy about today's result," he said. "To be second in both sessions, in the wet and the dry, is not bad at all and the conditions were quite difficult. My Bridgestone tires in the wet worked very well and I had a great feeling, so I'm really happy about this. Maybe I had a bit too much feeling in fact because I was pushing a little bit too hard when I fell! It was quite a big crash and I hit the ground hard but fortunately I am fine and I just have a bit of pain in my hip."

Fiat Yamaha Team rider and current championship runner-up Jorge Lorenzo was forced to contend with wind and rain at Estoril today as the Portuguese coastal circuit was battered with bad weather.

Already faced with the task of adapting to riding a MotoGP bike on a circuit which he admits is not amongst his favourites, it was an added complication for the 21-year-old but he coped admirably with the task and finished the day in fifth position, just 0.361 secs. off the lead.

Colin Edwards rode his updated Tech 3 Yamaha to the third fastest time. Riding the latest spec pneumatic valve YZR-M1 motor for the first time Friday, Edwards shrugged off a disappointing morning session run in rapidly changing wet/dry conditions to figure prominently throughout the afternoon's wind affected but dry session.

Once he'd climbed to the top of the timesheets for the first time after just 12 minutes, Edwards never dropped outside of the top three as he took full advantage of the extra acceleration and top speed from the latest Yamaha engine.

British rider James Toseland ended an eventful day with a best time of 1.40.055. With no previous experience of the challenging Estoril circuit, the morning's rain-hit hour did little to help shorten his steep learning curve. But Toseland showed what a fast learner he is with his time just 1.5 secs. off the leading pace and 13th quickest. Toseland used his spare machine for the session after he suffered a low speed tumble at turn seven on his first lap out of the pits.

Free Practice Results
1 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 1:38.507
2 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 1:38.547
3 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 1:38.632
4 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 1:38.688
5 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha ESP 1:38.868
6 Andrea Dovizioso Honda ITA 1:39.171
7 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 1:39.202
8 Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 1:39.309
9 Randy De Puniet Honda FRA 1:39.332
10 John Hopkins Kawasaki USA 1:39.474
11 Loris Capirossi Suzuki ITA 1:39.591
12 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 1:39.946
13 James Toseland Yamaha GBR 1:40.055
14 Alex De Angelis Honda SMR 1:41.033
15 Marco Melandri Ducati ITA 1:41.112