Dorna

Five riders lapped under pole record time to ignite the Grande Premio Marlboro de Portugal in sunny but extremely blustery conditions at the Estoril circuit this afternoon. Valentino Rossi sealed provisional pole position on his Honda in a time of 1'39.391, holding off a stunning late challenge from Yamaha rider Olivier Jacque with a succession of fast laps at the end of the session. Honda team-mates Max Biaggi and Tohru Ukawa also made threatened Rossi in the dying seconds but could only manage the third and fourth quickest times respectively as the front row was separated by 0.339 seconds.

"We made a good lap time but we still have much work to do for the perfect set-up," said Rossi. "We need to pay attention to the rear of the machine. I have a good feeling from the tyres but I need a little bit more grip and I think we can make the difference by working on the rear shock. I also have a little trouble with chatter from the front of the bike. We have a lot of data from today and we will work hard this evening and tomorrow to find the best set-up for the race on Sunday."

Sete Gibernau had led the session at various intervals before dropping fractionally off the pace and losing his front row position in fifth. Fellow Spaniard Carlos Checa, who took pole position here last year, looks certain to challenge for the front positions tomorrow after setting consistently quick times throughout the session on the Yamaha and provisionally qualifying sixth ahead of Ducati rider Loris Capirossi. Jeremy McWilliams completed the provisional second row after opting to qualify on the two-stroke Proton KR3.

Kenny Roberts enjoyed a positive session on the Suzuki, joining the third row in tenth place between fellow Americans Nicky Hayden and Colin Edwards, who were ninth and eleventh respectively. WCM rider Chris Burns crashed after just nine laps but both he and team-mate David De Gea have provisionally qualified for Sunday's race.

After taking his first podium in six races at Brno three weeks ago, Toni Elias hinted that he is ready to maintain a title challenge with an impressive provisional pole in the 250cc class. The Spaniard was 0.481 seconds quicker than nearest rival Randy De Puniet, setting his best time halfway through the session before reverting to set-up work on his Aprilia. Whilst Elias was held up by a slower rider in the late push for lap times, Manuel Poggiali and Roberto Rolfo were able to secure front row slots in the final few minutes, restricting Fonsi Nieto to fifth. Sebastian Porto crashed with just fifteen minutes remaining but made it back to the track to set the sixth fastest time on his Honda. Team-mates Franco Battaini and Sylvain Guintoli complete the provisional second row.

Alex De Angelis was straight back on the pace this afternoon as he set provisional pole position for the 125cc race. The San Marino rider, who took pole at the last round in Brno before staging a magnificent recovery from a mechanical problem to take his second successive podium, set a best time of 1'47.081 to hold off the challenge of title pretenders Dani Pedrosa and Stefano Perugini, who were second and third fastest respectively. Simone Corsi was the surprise package of the session, qualifying fourth fastest despite crashing out on the last lap after a tangle with Mika Kallio.

Casey Stoner also crashed out, further injuring his right collarbone and almost certainly ruling himself out of the rest of the weekend's action. Meanwhile, 125cc World Champion Arnaud Vincent marked his return to Aprilia with a provisional third row start in twelfth place, whilst Youichi Ui qualified 17th in his first outing on the Gilera.

Suzuki

Team Suzuki rider Kenny Roberts Jr. was tenth in today s first qualifying session for Sunday s Portuguese GP, picking up places and confidence at the very technical Estoril circuit on a machine with small but helpful improvements, and enjoying a complex circuit where riding skill can make more difference than at simpler tracks.

Team-mate John Hopkins was a second slower round the 4.182km track, and placed 17th, on the provisional fifth row. But the 20-year-old Anglo-American racer was also enjoying good progress with his machine, and confident of a significant improvement in tomorrow s final qualifying session, as he gains knowledge of the twisty circuit.

Both riders were trying a new semi-silenced exhaust system on one of their pair of machines. The Yoshimura silencers are used in Japan by the factory test riders to comply with noise regulations at the factory test track. They were not suffering the same caburation difficulties as the GP riders on the unsilenced bikes. Today s tests were promising, offering more consistent engine responses, without significantly affecting overall performance.

High winds a feature of the Estoril circuit close to the Atlantic Coast prevailed all day, in dry and sunny conditions. There is one more day of qualifying before Sunday s race.

KENNY ROBERTS Jr. Tenth Position, 1:40.547 - "This track is quite technical, and the rider can make quite a bit of difference by using the right lines and approaching the track correctly. Otherwise, it s business as usual down here. We re not trying anything radically different than Czecho. I did a 40.9 last year, and a 40.5 today, so it s nice to be a little bit quicker. And I got fourth here last year in the rain, so it definitely shows how much competition is out there. We re going to work tomorrow to get the bike better and better, and see what the outcome is. I m definitely aiming for the points."

JOHN HOPKINS 17th Position, 1:41.554 - "It didn t go too bad today. Basically, this track is not my favourite or my worst, but it is definitely challenging. There are so many things to look out for on the first day, especially after coming from Brno, which is so wide. You find yourself getting caught out on such a tight, narrow track. Basically I m still learning the place. I ve been here a few times, but I seem to keep learning more. It s a big challenge. For the bike, we ve been chipping away at set-ups, and we found a pretty big improvement this afternoon from the morning, and now we re trying to get better again off that. We know there s room to improve both for myself and the bike, so we ll go better tomorrow. The silenced bike is basically a little smoother off the bottom, which is a help at a track like this."

GARRY TAYLOR Team Manager - "We ve already seen a small improvement for Kenny compared with last year, so we re going in the right direction. It s only John s second race at this track, and as Kenny said it is very technical. Every lap John does is an appreciable learning experience. Both riders are in a positive frame of mind, and we have to keep moving forward."

Yamaha

Frenchman Olivier Jacque (Gauloises Yamaha Team) caught the field napping in the final few minutes of the Portuguese MotoGP opening qualifying session, held September 5, when he pounced on to a provisional front row with a personal best lap and the second fastest time of the day – a 1’39.680. The former 250 World Champion set his time on his final lap, with only defending MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi (Honda, 1’39.391) able to hold back his charge, by 0.289 seconds.

Confident the result came from the hard work put in by his team and the progress made to the M1’s overall package during the recent Brno test, Jacque is now looking forward to securing a front row start for Sunday’s main event. Max Biaggi (Honda, 1’39.691) placed himself third, ahead of Tohru Ukawa (Honda, 1’39.730), Sete Gibernau (Honda, 139.736) and Carlos Checa (Fortuna Yamaha Team, 1’39.905). This leading sextet were the only riders to break into the ‘39s, and in turn the only group to challenge Checa’s 2002 circuit best lap – a 1’39.793.

Checa returned to Estoril circuit, a venue where he qualified on pole during the 2002 Portuguese Grand Prix, to put in an equally determined effort during the opening day of the 2003 race weekend. The Spaniard kicked off proceedings with a consistently quick morning free practice, during which he set the third fastest time, before challenging for provisional pole in the opening qualifying session, despite typically gusty conditions.

With only minutes remaining Checa put in a performance that placed the 30-year-old second fastest on the time sheets. The Fortuna Yamaha man then backed up that result with a string of fastest lap stages to be on course for provisional pole, before a small mistake in the final stage relegated him back to sixth place with a 1’39.905 – 0.514 seconds off pole. Despite missing out on the provisional front row, Checa remains confident that he and the team can improve for tomorrow’s crucial final qualifying session.

Gauloises Yamaha Team
Olivier Jacque 2nd, 1’39.680: “After the excellent tests we did at Brno, the Monday after the Czech GP, I knew we would be more competitive here – I just didn’t quite know by how much! Given our expectations, this morning was very frustrating as a couple of little technical problems held us back. Then this afternoon we made a couple of changes and everything came together. It proves that if you get the set-up just right on the Yamaha you can go fast on it. Now we need to see how the bike goes once the tyres aren’t quite so fresh, and concentrate on setting it up for the race.”

Alex Barros 16th, 1’41.234: “We have a problem with the balance of the bike and we can’t seem to find a solution. We tried the geometry we used at Brno and the set-up we used here during the IRTA tests but nothing seems to work at the moment.”

Fortuna Yamaha Team
Carlos Checa 6th, 1’39.905: “I’m quite close here to the top group, so I’m feeling quite positive. I am still having some front traction problems but I hope we can sort that out with some small set-up adjustments. We made a bit of a breakthrough, in Brno in the race and during the Michelin tyre test the day after, in terms of lap time consistency. And we’ve obviously carried that progress here with us. For sure getting pole position here along with a good race result last year gives me more confidence as well, as it’s become a circuit that I like a lot. At the end of the session I put in a good lap time with fresh tyres; then I was going for an even better time when I made a small mistake. I ran a little bit wide. It was very close anyway between the top riders, just a matter of tenths of a second between us, so I’m sure we can secure a decent grid position tomorrow.”

Marco Melandri 15th, 1’40.836: “After this morning’s practice I was hoping to improve my time quite a lot for this afternoon. We’ve modified the front a little bit since this morning and the bike has changed quite a lot. It was not so easy to get into the corners because I felt like I was losing grip. Perhaps we have actually changed a bit too much, so this is something we will discuss before tomorrow’s practice, and hopefully rectify the problem to give me a bit more confidence. Anyway in a way I am still learning as I have not had many laps at this circuit on this bike, so I’m sure tomorrow will be easier.”

D’Antin Yamaha Team
Shinya Nakano 14th, 1’40.780: “I’m okay, but not 100 per cent recovered from my Brno crash, yet. This morning was very painful, but after going to the Clinica Mobile I could focus more on riding this afternoon. I’m not happy with my position, but the times are so tight so I’m confident I can improve tomorrow.”   

Repsol Honda

Valentino Rossi ended the first day of qualifying for Sunday’s Portuguese Grand Prix in provisional pole position with team mate, Nicky Hayden, on the provisional third row having posted the 9th fastest time in the hour-long first qualifying session at a bright, dry and very windy Estoril this afternoon.

The reigning world champion and current series leader was in relaxed mood after the second summer break and ready for the next six races in short succession over the next nine weeks. Leading fellow Honda RC211V rider, Sete Gibernau, by a slender 34 points margin, the 24-year-old Italian will be looking to continue his winning streak at the twisty Portuguese track that has seen him take the win on his last two visits to the 4.182km circuit situated just outside Lisbon.

Rossi was fastest in the morning’s Free Practice but it was the Spaniard who showed the early initiative this afternoon. Gibernau posted a sub 1 minute 40 second lap within seven minutes of the session starting and held the lead until two minutes from the end when fellow Honda RC211V riding Max Biaggi headed the leader board. Rossi, then lying in sixth place, responded with two lightening fast laps that saw him head the pack and take the all important provisional pole position.

The provisional front row reads Rossi, Olivier Jacque (Yamaha), Biaggi and Tohru Ukawa (Honda).

Nick Hayden spent the Free Practice this morning learning the circuit and finished the session in a creditable 11th place. He put in the fastest speed down the 780m start / finish straight at 318.7kph but was quick to admit that he hadn’t made the turn at the end of the main straight as he became accustomed to his braking markers.

With 28 laps this morning under his belt the 22-year-old set to business in this afternoons qualifying session and although reducing his lap times over the course of the session remained around 13th / 15th fastest. In the dying minutes the American found an extra 0.7 seconds and finished the day ninth fastest just 1.118 seconds off Rossi’s provisional pole time.

There is surely more to come from the young rider currently lying in ninth place in the rider’s tables in his rookie MotoGP season.

Valentino Rossi - “It was good at the end! We made a good lap time but we still have much work to do for the prefect set-up. We need to pay attention to the rear of the machine. I have a good feeling from the tyres but I need a little bit more grip and think we can make the difference by working on the rear shock. I also have a little trouble with chatter from the front of the bike. We have a lot of data from today and we work hard this evening and tomorrow for the second session and for the best set-up for the race on Sunday.”

Nicky Hayden - “This track’s a bit different! Real odd in places – even got a kinda’ backwards cork-screw. Had an OK day really. Really been tryin’ to find my reference points at this new track – this morning I over shot at the end of the main straight and ran out onto the gravel! Tried to get into a good rhythm this afternoon. I rode around and kinda’ got a little frustrated then settled down and seemed to get into some kinda’ flow. I’ve definitely got some areas I need to work on and try and relax a little bit more. It came a little better at the end of the session but I’ve definitely gotta’ get more consistent.”    

Pramac Honda

Makoto Tamada sees yet another circuit for the first time. Twelfth in the free practice in the morning, and 13th quickest in the first round of qualifying sessions. This was the first time Tamada had tackled the Portuguese track, and he did so with the basic set-up he used in the previous race (Brno, Czech Republic), gradually asking for the first modifications to the settings on his RC211V so that he could improve his lap times. By using a set-up he already knows, he was able to concentrate immediately on the best tyres in order to get a good grip on the 4,182-metre track.

This is a circuit that should not be too difficult to interpret from the point of view of choice of tyres since there are no particularly long curves where the bike leans down for long. Everything will be done to give Makoto a bike that brakes efficiently and thus gives the Japanese rider the feeling he needs in order to be aggressive during the race.

Makoto Tamada - Pramac Honda - 13th - 1m40.778 - "Not a bad track, and one where I think I should be able to do well, even though once again I'm starting from scratch: I'd never seen it before. There are some pretty strong gusts of wind here at Estoril, but it's not too much of a problem. We've really got to work to get the most endurance out of the tyres: today I felt I was losing grip when the tyres started wearing down. As a result, we've been working to find settings that'll give us consistent performance, and we've already made some good progress. We'll see what happens tomorrow: we'll be working on further developments."

Telefonica Movistar Honda

After the brief summer break the passion of the World Championship has returned, with Sete Gibernau setting the fifth fastest time in the first qualifying session. The Spaniard, who has taken four victories this season and lies 34 points behind the championship leader, maintained a constant rhythm and set a best lap of 1’39.736. Kiyonari also had a good session, stopping the clock at 1’42.697.

FAUSTO GRESINI, Team Manager: “A positive day. Sete has maintained a good rhythm throughout the day and even though he was only fifth quickest he has done a great job. We still have tomorrow to try and improve the grid position so today we have worked on the set-up of the bike for the race. Ryuichi is working at another new circuit so I’m sure the experience he had at Brno will be useful for him in Sunday’s race.”

SETE GIBERNAU #15: “I am satisfied with how the session has gone – not so much with my grid position but certainly with the work I have done with my team. From the start of the session we began lapping in 1’39” and began to work on the set-up of the bike for the race. I am concentrating on myself, on how my team is working, and not on what anybody else is doing and I think that is positive. We were on top for a good part of the session but in the end I was fifth. Obviously tomorrow I would like to be on the front row . It will be a tough race here – probably very windy but that is the same for everyone. I have always worked well here in Portugal but things have never quite worked out, so that is something I am looking to put right this year.”

RYUICHI KIYONARI #23: “As I was warned, this circuit is a mixture of long, fast corners and difficult chicanes – another new experience for me. On top of all this there is a really strong wind – I have never raced in these conditions. As far as the session was concerned, I concentrated on the set-up of the bike and tomorrow I will try to improve my time.”

Kawasaki

Fuchs Kawasaki riders Garry McCoy and Andrew Pitt endured a day of technical hiccups and sickness to qualify 18th and 20th respectively on the provisional grid for Sunday's Portugal Grand Prix.

At a warm and sunny Estoril the trademark strong and gusty winds were out in force, but these were the least of the problems for the Ninja ZX-RR pair, who battled bravely through a tough day at the track.

For most of the today's two track sessions McCoy was restricted to one bike while an electrical problem was cured on his other race machine. The minor glitch meant that the Australian was unable to fully evaluate the revised front geometry set-up developed by Kawasaki technicians following the recent Brno tests.

Even so, Estoril expert McCoy sliced 1.2s from his morning free practice time in afternoon qualifying, overcoming the problem of a 'fast idle' throttle setting to finish 18th, and only bumped from 17th place by a fraction of a second after the chequered flag had come out.

McCoy is hoping to make up for lost time with test runs on the new front end set-up in tomorrow's one hour free practice.

Meanwhile Pitt completed qualifying in an exhausted state because of the debilitating effects of a heavy cold he has been suffering for the past three days. The Australian was put on a drip in the Clinica Mobile prior to the afternoon qualifying session to help maintain energy levels in the warm and blustery conditions.

Pitt cut a massive 1.6s off his morning free practice time as he prepares for his first race start at Estoril on Sunday.

Garry McCoy - 18th - 1:41.625 - "We just ran of time today. It was difficult to get through our technical and tyre program with just one bike but the guys worked hard to get it fixed. The second bike was ready to run late in the qualifying session but it did not have the set-up changes we had already made to my first bike. I was expecting to be a little faster today but it felt like the throttle idle was set too fast and this was forcing me to run wide, especially while trying to stop and turn for the slow, tight corners here. It's a simple thing to fix and hopefully tomorrow we can get a clear run with two bikes. The wind is not easy but I've seen it a lot worse here; back in 2000 when I won the race it was blowing a lot harder than this."

Andrew Pitt - 20th - 1:42.399 - "That's hard work, especially with the cold I've got; it's gradually getting better but getting hot and sweaty and then cooling down doesn't help. I'm okay for about ten laps but then I start to feel a bit weak and an hour before that session I was on a drip in the Clinica Mobile. But otherwise I'm pretty happy with the way things are going. I'm basically running a Brno set-up, with a shorter wheelbase to get through the tight stuff, and just trying to work on getting the best out of the bike and the track without changing too much. The wind is going flat out; it's a tail wind down the straight which makes it pretty interesting to pull the bike up for turn one."

WCM

David de Gea - 23rd ­ 1¹42.919 - "I am happy with the new 4 stroke and I like very much this track. The team and I are happy with today¹s qualifying and I improved on my time from practice this morning. The power with the 4 stroke is good; we just have to work on a few issues with the front braking, but other then that everything seems to be working nicely with the bike.

Chris Burns ­ 24th ­ 1¹45.066 - "I¹ve not had a great start to the weekend. This morning I missed 20 minutes of practice due to some electronic problems and in the afternoon qualifying session, there were problems with the throttle and I had no option but to run it through the gravel and jump off. I only did 9 laps in this afternoon¹s session. Its such a shame, I have not been to this track before and I need as much time as I can to learn the track, this has really set us back a bit."

Peter Clifford ­ Team Manager - "A classic day of ups and downs. Very sorry that a technical problem caused Chris¹s fall this afternoon, marring an otherwise fantastic day for our new engines debut.

"I certainly didn't believe that everything could go so well on what should really should be a test outing. The fact that bike ran and ran so well is a real tribute to the whole host of people who have been involved in making this happen.

"Chris's accident was nothing to do with the new engine and I am sure both riders will have a chance to put in decent qualifying times tomorrow afternoon."

Proton Team KR

Team Proton KR rider Jeremy McWilliams switched back to last year’s two-stroke machine for this afternoon’s first timed practice session, and proved the strength of the 500c two-stroke by putting it eighth, on the provisional second row of the grid, among the fastest of the 990cc MotoGP four-strokes.

McWilliams was using the same drilled fairing he used to claim pole position at Phillip Island last year – the holes a measure to alleviate the effect of crosswinds, which were a feature of today’s practice. But the Ulsterman’s two-stroke switch was only temporary, and both riders will be on the four-stroke tomorrow.

The move came after teething troubles with the latest version of the Proton KR V5 machine – all part of the development programme of the infant GP racer, which will line up for only its fifth race on Sunday. Inevitably, each step forward from first prototype to mature racer brings new problems to be solved.

The latest machine incorporates a range of improvements, including a significantly better new-generation engine braking control system as well as more horsepower. McWilliams tried these at the last round at Brno and the team tested them further in Ireland during the break, before preparing four machines to that specification for this race.

This morning, one of McWilliams’s pair of engines gave trouble in the morning free session, and the team decided to withdraw the other bike for the afternoon, to make internal modifications to prevent the problem recurring. Tomorrow the team plans to return to the four-stroke in spite of the stronger qualifying performance of the two-stroke, to concentrate on developing for the future.

Team-mate Nobuatsu Aoki stuck to the four-stroke, and the team overcame a few teething troubles during the session, with throttle problems spoiling planned progress with chassis settings. Like McWilliams, Aoki has one version of the latest chassis, and the niggling problems were a minor set-back against an overall improvement in machine feel and rider confidence.

Today’s first practice took place in sunny but windy conditions, the notorious coastal breezes of the Estoril circuit prevailing all day. There is one more day of qualifying remaining, to determine final grid positions for Sunday’s race.

JEREMY McWILLIAMS - "This is what keeps me coming back – days when we have a bit of a downer, then pull the old two-stroke out and manage the second row. It’s difficult to know what to do tomorrow, but I will go with whatever the team wants, which will be to get some more laps on the four-stroke. That’s okay by me. The four-stroke is going better than it has ever gone, and it’s a lot easier to ride into the turns.. It’s starting to feel like a racing bike. And at least we have that old relic two-stroke to pull out if things go wrong."

NOBUATSU AOKI - "I have a new chassis here that has brought me more confidence, because the balance is much nicer. I like it very much. The problem is there is only one, and I had some trouble with the engine, with a throttle butterfly sticking. That cost us time we wanted to use for chassis setting, and we are a little behind schedule. The engine power was also a little down this afternoon. I need my engine to run properly, and then I know I can get a much better time."

CHUCK AKSLAND – Team Manager - "Tomorrow we will have four four-strokes again, and the plan is for Jeremy to go back to the four-stroke. The bike is better than before, and he was going quite well on it in the morning free practice before he had engine trouble. If possible, we will race the four-stroke. We’re still testing the new machine, and full race distance is an important part of that process."

Ducati

Ducati Marlboro Team riders Loris Capirossi and Troy Bayliss eased into this weekend’s Marlboro Portuguese GP at Estoril today, taking provisional second- and third-row starts in treacherous windy conditions. Both men came here testing in February but the data gathered during that session isn’t of much use this weekend since the bike has come on a long way in the past seven months and the weather conditions are completely different.

“The wind makes things quite difficult for everyone,” said Ducati Marlboro Team technical director Corrado Cecchinelli. “You can choose the correct gearing, then the wind stops, so the gearing is no longer correct. And the wind also blows sand onto the track which makes things slippery for the riders. As far as the bike goes, we’re continuing with the new parts we used successfully at Brno last month. Loris is also using some new larger diameter Ohlins forks that make the bike more stable on the brakes and better in direction changes. Troy isn’t using them because he didn’t get much of a chance to try them during our Brno tests after the Czech GP, so he prefers to stick with what he knows.”

Loris Capirossi ended day one at Estoril with seventh-best time, putting the Ducati Marlboro Team man on the provisional second row. Remarkably the Italian pulled in at the end of a lap that could have put him on pole – Capirossi had clocked the fastest intermediate times in the first three sections of the track but didn’t feel like he was going that fast, so he came into the pits! But overall the former 125 and 250 champ is delighted with progress at this complex circuit.

“We used today to verify the modifications we used at Brno, and we’re very happy with our progress,” said Capirossi who was just 0.753 seconds off provisional pole position. “We’re very close to the fastest guys and we know exactly what to do to improve for tomorrow. It’s a pity about the fast lap that I ended early – I never realised I was going that quick so I came into the pits. But we’re confident we can be fast when we need to be tomorrow and Sunday.”

Ducati Marlboro Team rider Troy Bayliss was 12th quickest this afternoon, just over a second off provisional pole position. The Australian, who has never raced here, expects to move closer to the front tomorrow as he hones his Desmosedici’s chassis set-up.

“It’s super bumpy here and we’re struggling with a couple of settings things, just little stuff,” commented Bayliss who had one of his bikes stop mid-session. “Things would be better if it wasn’t so windy, but the wind does seem reasonably consistent and you know where it’s really blowing hard. It hurts you on some corners but it can actually help you in other turns, like the kink onto the back straight. You’re flat out in fourth through there and the wind definitely helps you get the bike turned.”