Lorenzo leads the way at wet and wild Estoril

In echoes of the harsh weather conditions witnessed two weeks ago at the Phillip Island circuit in Australia, heavy rains and wind severely disrupted today’s free practice sessions at the Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril. The morning’s 45 minute first free practice session saw less than five MotoGP riders take to the circuit for a minimal number of laps, the majority, Fiat Yamaha Team riders Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi included, deciding to sit it out in the hope of gentler conditions for the afternoon. The riders’ patience paid off with a break in the rain signalling the start of the afternoon session, the circuit drying in patches towards the end of the 45 minute practice.

Newly crowned 2010 MotoGP World Champion Lorenzo was clearly enjoying one of his favourite circuits on the calendar, relishing the enjoyment of riding with the pressure of the world championship title battle no longer a focus. The young Mallorcan lapped consistently within the top four before a final push at the end of the session to secure the fastest time in advance of tomorrow’s qualifying sessions. Rossi was also on form, delivering consistent fast laps from the off and leading the table mid-session as he worked through the wet settings. He finished the session in third, just over three tenths off his team mate. Tomorrow’s two sessions have both been extended to one hour in order to make up for some of the time lost to the rain today.

Lorenzo – Position: 1st Time: 1’48.522 Laps: 20
“I love this track, I have won here both times in MotoGP so I am very happy to be here. 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!”

Rossi – Position: 3rd Time: 1’48.883 Laps: 20
“This afternoon was a normal wet practice and I’m happy about my performance. I am close to the top, was fast from the beginning of session and had a good feeling with 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. We will try for tomorrow 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!”

Team Manager
“We are quite happy with the practice, not so happy with all the rain so far. The track was starting to dry towards the end of the session though and we were able to make some small improvements to the settings. We have to concentrate on entry and exit grip on the rear on the corners so if it’s wet again tomorrow we’ll focus on that. P1 is always good but the times are very close so we’ll see tomorrow.”

Team Manager
“It was a good session today, we started with a good base and Valentino was fast throughout the practice. There are still some improvements to make both with the electronics and the balance of the bike. We got some really useful information from the session so if we have any further wet sessions or a wet race on Sunday we can continue with this good base.”

—  HRC Report

Bright sunshine finally emerged at the end of the afternoon practice session at Estoril today, but only after heavy rain throughout the day had significantly disrupted the start of the Grand Prix of Portugal race weekend. The morning session was almost a complete wash-out, with only two riders leaving the pits to brave the treacherous track conditions and the thunderstorm that raged overhead. Like most of the MotoGP field, Repsol Honda riders Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso chose to sit out the session for safety reasons, and also because of the limited returns of riding in such conditions.

The afternoon practice also started wet, but the rain clouds had done their worst by this point and, although there were still some puddles around the track, the surface slowly began to dry as the session progressed. With marginal conditions throughout however, the lap times were widely spread as some riders were clearly more comfortable than others on the cold and slippery surface. Andrea Dovizioso was gaining in confidence and had set the fastest first two sectors of the lap when he touched a white line turning in to Turn eight and fell from his RC212V. The 24-year-old Italian was unhurt and soon returned to the track on his second bike, increasing his speed once again and setting the ninth fastest time with his last lap of the session.

As in Australia two weeks ago, Dani Pedrosa was again greeted with less than favourable conditions today for his return to riding after his absence through injury. The Spaniard steered clear of trouble however to complete 19 valuable laps in the afternoon session and prove to himself that his physical condition has improved significantly. Though his lap time was well off the pace of today’s fastest rider, Jorge Lorenzo, Pedrosa chose caution over heroics and made a steady start to the weekend, quietly confident that he can move up the timesheets tomorrow.

Due to the loss of this morning’s session, the practice and qualifying sessions tomorrow have been extended in duration from 45 minutes to one hour to give the teams more preparation time.

ANDREA DOVIZIOSO – 9th – 1m 52.294s +3.772s
“Everything was going quite well in the session and we were making progress and finding the best set-up for the track in these difficult conditions. I was on a fast lap when I made a mistake at turn eight and I had to brake on the white line at the edge of the track, and I crashed. Fortunately I wasn’t injured which is the important thing, but this cost us time and prevented us from being further up the timesheets. We need to make some more improvements to the set-up of the machine and the electronics for these conditions – and this is really important at this track because Estoril is quite tight and you need to manage the power really well. So we are not as close to the front as we need to be, but we have a lot of potential to improve from here and we know the areas where we have to work. It was a strange day with the lost morning session so let’s hope tomorrow brings more stable weather.”

DANI PEDROSA – 13th – 1m 53.592s +5.070s
“Straight away I felt much better on the bike here than I did in Australia and the shoulder has recovered a lot, which is very positive. I feel a little bit tired now, but basically I feel ok after riding today. It was a pity that we missed the whole practice this morning because of the rain, and also at the beginning of the afternoon session the track conditions were difficult, which limited what we could achieve. To be honest I didn’t feel totally at home on the bike today but I think this is normal after so long without riding, and this situation will improve. Usually when you ride in wet conditions you take it easy and this was especially true for me today because I certainly didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks. It was good to be on the bike again and to see that I can ride more or less normally. Tomorrow we’ll see what the weather brings, but it’s good that we have two hours instead of two 45-minute sessions, and we’ll make the most of that extra time.”

TOSHIYUKI YAMAJI – REPSOL HONDA TEAM MANAGER
“It was an unusual day today with hardly anyone riding in this morning’s session and then the afternoon session being held in mixed conditions. This contributed to the lap times being quite spread out and so even though the time gaps look quite big, we didn’t get the real picture today. Andrea was on the fastest lap of the session so far when he touched the white line and had his fall, but the most important thing is that he is completely fine and has the opportunity to move forward tomorrow. For Dani it was a positive day because he has established that he’s basically ok and when the track conditions improve we’d expect him to climb up the order too.”

—  Ducati Report

Ducati Marlboro Team pair Nicky Hayden and Casey Stoner made an impressive start to the Grand Prix of Portugal, lapping second and fourth fastest respectively on a rain-hit first day. With the schedule reverting to four 45 minute sessions, as successfully trialled at Aragon, this morning’s opening free practice was effectively redundant as heavy Atlantic showers flooded the track in several areas.

Neither Hayden nor Stoner completed a single lap in the treacherous conditions but they were able to ride in the afternoon, adapting the set-up of their Desmosedici GP10 machines to the wet track. Both riders are looking for more traction in different areas and will most likely get the opportunity to refine their wet set-up tomorrow, with forecasts predicting more rain for the qualifying session. As a result of this morning’s washout, both practices tomorrow will be an hour long.

NICKY HAYDEN – (Ducati Marlboro Team) 2nd – 1’48.657
“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. 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.”

CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 4th – 1’49.061
“We feel we could and should have been faster today but we struggled for some reason with edge grip. When I picked up the bike the traction was good but on the edge it wasn’t. We also had some problems with the front brakes and I was having to adjust in every corner. Said that, we’re quite happy. I felt confident in these conditions and it looks like we’re going to have more of the same over the remainder of the weekend. We have work to do but for the moment I feel comfortable.”