Lorenzo leads Portuguese practice

From motogp.com

After a morning session that was effectively written off by heavy rain and storms the MotoGP class was able to make progress at Estoril on Friday afternoon in the second practice at the bwin Grande Premio de Portugal.

World Champion and race winner at Estoril for the past two seasons Jorge Lorenzo was the fastest rider round the track in the 45-minute run, as he posted a best lap of 1:48.522 on his factory M1 to get his weekend off to a solid start.

"I love this track! I have won here both times in MotoGP so I am very happy to be here,” said Lorenzo, whose two wins in the premier class have come from pole position. “Unfortunately the weather was terrible this morning and there was no point in riding, then this afternoon it was still very difficult, with a lot of water on the track and you had to be very careful.

“I felt good despite the conditions and step-by-step we improved so that at the end, when it was slightly drier, I was able to set a good time and we are on top. Tomorrow we will have two longer sessions so we will be able to recover some of the lost time, let's hope for no more rain."

Ducati rider Nicky Hayden was also on form as he finished just 0.135 secs. behind the Spaniard, with Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha) completing the top three and the final rider to get under the 1:49 barrier on day one.

“This morning there was too much water on track to be able to ride, it was like a river, so we had to wait until the afternoon to check a few things," Hayden said. "This track doesn't have a lot of grip, especially on the rear. It's not a very abrasive surface but I had a really good feeling on the front - we just need to make some improvements on the rear.

"We know the Ducati works well in the rain because the engine management system is good and that gives us a lot of control. Lately I've been quite fast in wet conditions but it takes me too long to get there. If it's a wet race on Sunday and I'm going to be competitive then we need to be fast from the start so that's an area we need to work on if it rains again tomorrow.”

"This afternoon was a normal wet practice and I'm happy about my performance," Rossi said. "I am close to the top, was fast from the beginning of the session and had a good feeling with the bike. Unfortunately we were losing a little bit in some sections of the track, especially the last one because the bike was moving a little too much.

“Tomorrow we will try to improve the settings. It's important that we made a good start this afternoon as this morning's session was cancelled and it looks like the weather may not be very good over the weekend, so we will not have a lot of time to set up the bike."

Casey Stoner, who is going for a fourth win in five races this weekend, was fourth with an effort of 1:49.061, which made the Ducati man the last to get within a second of Lorenzo.

Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Ben Spies and San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Marco Melandri were separated by just six-hundredths of a second as they rounded out the session and day one as the fifth and sixth fastest riders respectively.

LCR Honda rider Randy de Puniet had led the session early on and his final time of 1:50.043 placed him seventh in the order, with Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini), Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) and Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) setting top-10 times.

Despite the appearance of the sun late in the session the track remained wet due to the constant earlier rain, and as such there were four crashers in the session. Héctor Barberá (Paginas Amarillas Aspar), Dovizioso, Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) all had falls on a surface that continued to cause some problems.

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) was on track as he continues his recovery from injury and he placed 13th, with Carlos Checa 17th as he started his two-race stint with the Pramac Racing Team.

Aleix Espargaró (Pramac Racing) and Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP) – who along with Checa was the only rider to complete a lap in the morning – completed the session 14th and 15th fastest respectively.

The entire Moto2 field was able to take to the track at Estoril on Friday afternoon as vastly improved conditions in comparison to the morning greeted them for FP2 at the bwin Grande Premio de Portugal.

Fimmco Speed Up rider Gabor Talmacsi was the rider who led the way on the first day as he set a best time of 1:50.916 to top the timesheet across both sessions, and the Hungarian was the only rider under 1:51.

Julián Simón (Mapfre Aspar), who did not ride in the morning, was second at 0.388 secs. off Talmacsi, with World Champion Toni Elías (Gresini Racing) showing no signs of any hangover from a fall in the morning session to set the third best time as the track provided a much better surface than the rain-drenched one encountered only hours before.

Alberto Moncayo set the quickest lap in the second 125cc practice session at Estoril on Friday afternoon, as the weather continued to make it difficult for the riders to gain a foothold in their preparations for Sunday’s race. The Andalucia Cajasol rider’s time of 2:05.490 was just over five seconds off Bradley Smith’s effort from the morning session, as he led Johann Zarco (WTR San Marino Team) by a little over a full second in the FP2 timings.

With the track still wet there were again a number of falls during the 40-minute session, with title chasers Marc Márquez (Red Bull Ajo Motorsport) and Pol Espargaró (Tuenti Racing) both going down – the former having completed just two laps and not returning to the track for the remainder. Both escaped injury as their bikes took the impacts.

MotoGP Practice Results
1. Jorge LORENZO (SPA) Fiat Yamaha 1:48.522
2. Nicky HAYDEN (USA) Ducati 1:48.657
3. Valentino ROSSI (ITA) Fiat Yamaha 1:48.883
4. Casey STONER (AUS) Ducati 1:49.061
5. Ben SPIES (USA) Monster Tech 3 Yamaha 1:49.721
6. Marco MELANDRI (ITA) San Carlo Gresini Honda 1:49.784
7. Randy DE PUNIET (FRA) LCR Honda 1:50.043
8. Marco SIMONCELLI (ITA) San Carlo Gresini Honda 1:51.283
9. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (ITA) Repsol Honda 1:52.294
10. Loris CAPIROSSI (ITA) Rizla Suzuki 1:52.575
11. Hector BARBERA (SPA) Paginas Amarillas Aspar Ducati 1:53.131
12. Colin EDWARDS (USA) Monster Tech 3 Yamaha 1:53.510
13. Dani PEDROSA (SPA) Repsol Honda 1:53.592
14. Aleix ESPARGARO (SPA) Pramac Ducati 1:53.769
15. Hiroshi AOYAMA (JPN) Interwetten Honda 1:54.389
16. Alvaro BAUTISTA (SPA) Rizla Suzuki 1:54.410
17. Carlos CHECA (SPA) Pramac Ducati 1:54.444