"I'm particularly happy because yesterday we had a few problems and we've worked very hard to sort them out," said Biaggi. "I think I showed again today that I am a bit of a specialist at pulling off one fast lap when I need to but tomorrow's race will be a different story and I just hope I can stay in the top positions and fight all the way for the win."

Vd Goorbergh maintained his recent qualifying form with the fifth fastest time of the day on the Proton KR ahead of Barros and Gibernau, whilst Checa completes the second row in eighth position. Last year's race winner McCoy has his work cut out this time around as he starts from the third row in ninth place, as does World Champion Kenny Roberts who failed to qualify higher than tenth despite supposed improvements to his Suzuki. Criville and Haga line up in eleventh and twelfth respectively.

Biaggi - Pole - "As everyone knows I'm a one-lap specialist!" joked Biaggi. "But I know it's going to be tough in the race. We started off with a few problems yesterday, the bike wasn't steering so well, and turning is so important here, so we've made a big improvement since then. We were up late last night working on solutions and the bike is much better now, though I'm still lacking a little speed and acceleration. I think my best lap was near-perfect, but we need to work some more on race-distance set-up. It's going to be a tough race, I'll give it everything I can."

Capirossi - 2nd - "I spent the main part of the session looking for a high rhythm for the race and also trying to find the most suitable tyre to endure the hard conditions due to the heat. I am sure I could have lowered the time to 1:39, but when I mounted a soft tyre at the end, I got a lot of problems and I could not do it. I am optimistic for the race, because both the bike and I are on the right path."

Rossi - 3rd - "The forecast I made yesterday proved to be right..... unfortunately.  The lap time I did yesterday, 1m 40.3s, was 0.5s better than anybody else, was not enough to keep pole position.. Both Biaggi and Capirossi bettered my time. I was only able to improve by thousandths of a second because we were trying to make the machine more stable under braking. In fact we made it slower in the middle of the corner. So, finally, we lost time. Furthermore, today I believe I didn't ride as well as yesterday, my riding was not as fluid, or precise. In my first attempt with soft compound tyres I made a mistake in the last section of the track, and that cost me 4/10ths of a second. Without that I could have done 1m 40.1s. But what really matters is that we will start from the front row of the grid, and that in both free practice and qualifying my pace was good. In the morning warm-up we still have to fix a few doubts about the bike, and the tyres. Then it should be possible to make a good race. As in Brno it's very important to make a good start. Here in Estoril you can loose a lot of time if you have a slower rider in front of you. The riders to beat? Needles to say, will be Biaggi and Capirossi".

Ukawa - 4th - "Obviously, I'm quite happy with this result, as I hardly remember the last time that I started from the front row of the grid. This afternoon, we finally managed to find a good balance in the set-up of my bike, which transforms into a much safer way of riding for myself. Now I can go into the corners with a safety margin, the combination of tyres, chassis and suspensions is working on a high level. This will be the first time for me to start from the front row in a 500 GP, and I hope to match this with a good result. In the free practice session, things didn't go well at all, but in the afternoon, we managed to get the set-up right and the situation changed for the better. We concentrated on finding the best set of tyres for the race, and I think I achieved that."

Van Den Goorbergh - 5th - "I'm very happy with that lap time. I did it all alone, without slipstreaming anybody - a slipstream on the fast straight here would have won me three or four more tenths of a second, but I would have had to wait for a fast rider to get that advantage, and I'm not the sort of guy that likes to wait! The new bike the team built for me felt just like the old one from the start, which was really good. The Big Bang engine is running well - but it's not perfect yet. The throttle connection when you first open up can still improve. The other problem I have is with myself - I have had a stomach infection for two or three days now, and it is affecting my concentration. I hope I am fully better for the race tomorrow."

Barros - 6th - "We spent a lot of time trying to improve the set-up, but as we could not do it, we have come back to yesterday's configuration, making only a few modifications on the front. That has allow us to improve the times. We should have a little bit more time to find the ideal set up, but we will try again in the warm-up. If we do not find it, we know what we have and we will use it to do our best."

Sito Pons - West Honda Pons - "Our riders have good rhythm. Loris has been the most constant rider in fast times during this session and he's make a progress to fight tomorrow for victory. Alex has also improved and he will have the chance to battle for the podium."

Checa - 8th - "I'm still on the second row, and I feel more comfortable with the bike, which is the most important thing for the race," said the Spaniard. "We've been working to find the right balance and it's not bad so far, though I'd like to make a few little adjustments for the race. The engine also needs some work because the low-rpm power is not so constant and that's what you need for this track, especially through the last series of turns. I think I can keep a good pace for the race but in this heat it's going to be tough on the tyres."

Marlboro Yamaha Team - "We've had a very good day, I'm pleased for the whole team," said Marlboro Yamaha Team director Hiroya Atsumi. "We've worked as usual, trying to adapt the set-up of Max's bike to this circuit, to suit his favourite style. After yesterday's session we've been able to improve braking stability and make the bike steer and handle better. I think the race will be another duel between Valentino and Max, and it will be very close. For Carlos we have adjusted his bike balance, taking a little weight off the rear to suit his style. We made a little mistake with his settings on race day at Brno, so I'm glad he is fast again here."

McCoy 1'40.894 - 9th - "In the end I did my best time about half way through the session. After that I came in and we put a softer compound on but just couldn't go any faster with it. When I pulled in for my last set of tyres and was told that all we had was the same soft compound I pretty much knew there and then that I wouldn't be able to go any faster. I tried as hard as I could and ended up running off into the gravel right at the end at the end of the session. Finally I am fractionally slower than my pole position of last year. Then I was about half a second quicker than everyone else - it was a pretty special lap. At least today we were running consistent times and hopefully that will pay off on Sunday."

Crivillé - 12th - "There is little to say, I am just nine tenths of a second behind the best time, but I'm still in a position way back on the grid. The times here are very close, there is hardly a second separating the first twelve in the classification. I didn't get comfortable riding, neither in the morning, nor in the afternoon, and now we are looking for ways to improve the bike. We will try some more changes in tomorrow's warm-up session in order to see if we can get the set-up right for the race. Ukawa made his best time behind me and is now fourth on the grid, but I didn't find anybody to follow on the last laps and I couldn't improve my time. To win here will be very difficult, but if we can improve the bike I'm sure that I can fight for the podium."

Haga - 13th - "Although the bike isn't as good as when we came testing here, it is much better than it was yesterday - less chatter and better feeling from the front - now I can brake much harder. We still need to make some changes to the front/rear balance but once we've done that I think the bike will be pretty good."

Australia's Anthony West has been edged out of top position by Japan's Haruchika Aoki in the battle for honours between riders on two-cylinder machines in qualifying for tomorrow's 500cc Portugal Grand Prix at Estoril.

West, in his first 500cc season, had been quickest of the V-Twin riders in the opening qualifying session yesterday with a best lap time of 1-min 43.612-secs around the 4.1km circuit on a Dee Cee Racing Honda NSR500V. The 20-year-old improved his time by 0.439-secs in today's second qualifying session with a lap of 1-min 43.173-secs in hot conditions.

However, Aoki jumped ahead of West in the second session with a lap of 1-min 42.130-secs on a Arie Molenaar Racing Honda. Aoki qualified in 17th position on the grid for the 11th round of the 500cc championship, one place ahead of West. Both qualified ahead of the four-cylinder Shell Advance Honda raced by Britain's Leon Haslam.

West, who finished sixth in the 250cc world championship in 2000, has scored points in five of the eight 500cc grand prix races he has contested this year. He finished fourth in the 250cc grand prix at Estoril in 2000.

West - 18th - "Things are going much better this weekend, with a fuel change that seems to have solved the problems we had at Brno (Czech Republic Grand Prix on August 26). The bike is much easier to set up and it's not losing power, even though it's as hot here as it was at Brno. The motor has been going well all weekend. My lap times have been good. I tried a race set-up and did quite a few laps at a stretch, at consistently close to my fastest lap so far. I like the track, though there's not much time for a rest. All the turns are pretty tight, which is good for a V-Twin because it's nice and light. We've made a far few changes to the suspension – mainly softening it up a bit. You're either braking or accelerating hard all the time here, and if it's too stiff it just wants to spin the wheel up. My aim is the same as always – to score points again, but also to be the first V-Twin home, and to finish ahead of some of the V4s."

Tetsuya Harada continued his assault on 250cc Championship leader Daijiro Katoh with his fifth consecutive pole position. The Aprilia rider took his time to get going as Katoh set the pace for much of the session, but he turned in a series of sensational laps including the best ever time by a quarter-litre machine at the circuit to leave his title rival battling for second place on the grid with McWilliams. The Japanese Honda rider held off an admirable effort from the British veteran, who paid the price for some on-the-edge riding with a spectacular highside in the closing stages of the session but will be fit to line up in third place on tomorrow's grid. Fonsi Nieto pipped Melandri to the final front row slot with a late raid that relegates the Italian to fifth spot ahead of Alzamora, Matsudo and Checa.

Manuel Poggiali's Gilera became the fastest ever 125 machine to lap the Estoril circuit as the San Marino rider sent out a warning shot to title rival Toni Elias with the first pole position of his career. Poggiali stole top spot from the in-form Youichi Ui but the Derbi rider can have no complaints at second place on the grid. Elias was eventually forced to settle for a second row spot as Italian duo Sanna and Cecchinello emerged to take third and fourth place respectively on the grid of what promises to be another breathtaking start-to-finish battle in the World Championship's minor class.