FIM MotoGP World Championship Estoril, Portugal October 29, 2010 Free Practice Two Results (wet conditions, all on Bridgestone tires): 1. Jorge LORENZO, Spain (YAMAHA), 1:48.522 2. Nicky HAYDEN, USA (DUCATI), 1:48.657 3. Valentino ROSSI, Italy (YAMAHA), 1:48.883 4. Casey STONER, Australia (DUCATI), 1:49.061 5. Ben SPIES, USA (YAMAHA), 1:49.721 6. Marco MELANDRI, Italy (HONDA), 1:49.784 7. Randy DE PUNIET, France (HONDA), 1:50.043 8. Marco SIMONCELLI, Italy (HONDA), 1:51.283 9. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Italy (HONDA), 1:52.294, crash 10. Loris CAPIROSSI, Italy (SUZUKI), 1:52.575 11. Hector BARBERA, Spain (DUCATI), 1:53.131, crash 12. Colin EDWARDS, USA (YAMAHA), 1:53.510, crash 13. Dani PEDROSA, Spain (HONDA), 1:53.592 14. Aleix ESPARGARO, Spain (DUCATI), 1:53.769 15. Hiroshi AOYAMA, Japan (HONDA), 1:54.389 16. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Spain (SUZUKI), 1:54.410, crash 17. Carlos CHECA, Spain (DUCATI), 1:54.444 More, from a press release issued by Interwetten Honda: Mixed first practice day for Aoyama in Estoril The first practice day at the “Circuito do Estoril” in Portugal was a mixed day for Hiroshi Aoyama. In the Morning the 29 year old Japanese, who was celebrating his birthday on 25th of October, was leading the time table as he and Carlos Checa, the substitute rider in the Pramac Ducati Team, where the only two riders on the track. The track was more like a river than a racetrack in the morning and so the other riders decided to stay in the pit box. In the afternoon the track dried off and Aoyama had a better feeling with the Honda RC212V, but still some adjustments have to be done tomorrow in the third free practice and then the MotoGP rookie hopes to improve his position. The first practice day Aoyama finished in 15th position in the combined times. Hiroshi Aoyama, 15 1’54.382 (combined times FP1 and FP2): “This morning the conditions were not really optimal and I was not out on the track for very long. This afternoon it went better and all riders were on track again. I didn’t feel very comfortable in the wet, especially in the corners I had some difficulties. We improved on that in the afternoon, but not enough and tomorrow we will have to continue to work on that. I want my feeling to improve more.” More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: RAIN DOMINATES THE FIRST DAY IN PORTUGAL 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 co ld 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 t o 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 goo d 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.” More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: LORENZO FASTEST ON WET ESTORIL CIRCUIT, ROSSI CLOSE BEHIND IN THIRD 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. Jorge 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!” Valentino 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!” Wilco Zeelenberg 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.” Davide Brivio 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.” More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: STRONG START FROM DUCATI MARLBORO PAIR IN WET AND WINDY PORTUGAL 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.” More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Lorenzo fastest as second practice proves valuable to Bridgestone Round 17: Portuguese Grand Prix Free Practice Estoril, Friday 29 October 2010 Bridgestone wet compounds available: Front: Soft. Rear: Soft The Portuguese Grand Prix got underway today amid torrential rain and high winds which disrupted running in the morning’s free practice session, when only Hiroshi Aoyama and Carlos Checa completed any laps. For Checa, who replaces Mika Kallio at the Pramac Racing Team, it was a tough return to MotoGP in such treacherous conditions. The afternoon’s 45 minute practice session was uninterrupted however as the rain ceased and the winds abated. After the early downpour the circuit was still soaked, meaning that all riders used Bridgestone’s wet tyres, but as the sun emerged conditions started to improve, as did the laptimes. Bridgestone got the opportunity to assess wet tyre performance from full wet to drying conditions this afternoon which provided valuable durability data, especially as there has been very little wet running this season. Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo finished the session on top, securing the spot with his penultimate lap ahead of Ducati’s Nicky Hayden and Fiat Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi. The top seven riders all recorded their fastest times on their final or penultimate lap as the circuit started drying under the sun’s rays, although there were still patches of standing water and no dry line by the end of the session so wets were still needed. The lack of running this morning has caused a change to both of tomorrow’s sessions, which have been increased in length from 45minutes to the usual one hour. They had been shortened to 45 minutes because of the reinstatement of the Friday morning practice session. The latest forecast suggests much brighter weather tomorrow for the morning practice and afternoon qualifying sessions. Tohru Ubukata Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department “This morning’s session was a write-off because of the conditions, but this afternoon the session was actually very valuable for us because we got to assess the performance of our soft option wet tyres from fully wet to drying conditions. When it rains here at Estoril the track gets very slippery, more so than other circuits in the wet, but I am happy with both the performance and durability of our wet tyres. Performance was very good at the start of the session when it was fully wet and I’m happy with durability in the drying conditions. Randy completed 24 laps on a single set of wets and his fastest was his last lap which demonstrates good durability and consistency.” Top ten combined times from Free Practice 1 and 2 (All from FP2, Friday 14:05 14:50 GMT+1) Pos Rider Team Practice Time Gap Tyres 1 Jorge Lorenzo Fiat Yamaha Team 1m48.522s Bridgestone wets 2 Nicky Hayden Ducati Team 1m48.657s +0.135s Bridgestone wets 3 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team 1m48.883s +0.361s Bridgestone wets 4 Casey Stoner Ducati Team 1m49.061s +0.539s Bridgestone wets 5 Ben Spies Monster Yamaha Tech3 1m49.721s +1.199s Bridgestone wets 6 Marco Melandri San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m49.784s +1.262s Bridgestone wets 7 Randy de Puniet LCR Honda MotoGP 1m50.043s +1.521s Bridgestone wets 8 Marco Simoncelli San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m51.283s +2.761s Bridgestone wets 9 Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda Team 1m52.294s +3.772s Bridgestone wets 10 Loris Capirossi Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m52.575s +4.053s Bridgestone wets Weather: Wet. Ambient 16-19°C; Track 17-22°C (Bridgestone measurement) More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Capirossi in the top-10 at a rain soaked Estoril Rizla Suzuki’s Loris Capirossi made a promising return from injury by recording the 10th fastest time at a very wet Estoril circuit in Portugal today. Capirossi (P10, 1’52.575, 14 laps) who was sidelined from the last race due to a thigh injury – and has since been diagnosed with three fractures in his foot made an impressive start to the weekend in conditions that he thought would be very difficult to ride in with his injuries. He was constantly within sight of the leaders and only the lack of track-time at the end of the session prevented him from making further in-roads on his time and improving his place in the standings. Álvaro Bautista (P16, 1’54.410, 15 laps) had a big crash in the wet conditions towards the end of the session. He lost grip from the rear of his GSV-R on a right-hand bend and high-sided quite dramatically. Bautista was thrown across the track, but fortunately he was able to walk away uninjured from the accident. Today should have seen two practice sessions, but torrential rain this morning left standing water on the track and made it impossible for riders to attempt to tackle the 4,182m circuit. This afternoon saw an improvement in the weather as the rain ceased and the sun managed to make an appearance towards the end of the session. The fastest time of the day was set by new World Champion Jorge Lorenzo. Rizla Suzuki will have one more free practice session tomorrow morning, followed by qualifying in the afternoon both of which have been increased to an hour to compensate for the lost time this morning. Sunday’s race is the penultimate event of the season and it gets underway at 13.00hrs local time (13.00hrs GMT). Loris Capirossi: “Today has been ok when you consider what it was like this morning. When I saw all that rain I was a bit angry, because it would have been a lot harder for me to ride in those conditions. I use my body more in the wet and I have to push down a lot on my feet so this was going to be a problem, but the feeling was not too bad and it felt much better than in Australia. We have improved a lot since the last time out and we continued to improve in the session. I am only in 10th position, but quite happy because we were quite close to the top throughout the session and for us this is good. At the end, as the track improved, I came in to fix some things and the bike was ready just a couple of minutes before the end, but the conditions were changing so quickly it wasn’t worth going out because it was too risky. I hope that we can have a positive weekend here in Portugal we really need it!” Álvaro Bautista: “Today has been a strange day because it was impossible to ride this morning due to so much water on the track it would have made it very dangerous out there. This afternoon it was still very wet, but at least we were able to go out. During the session I improved my time step-by-step, but I felt that the bike didn’t quite have enough grip as I entered the corners. I tried to push a bit harder, but the grip stayed the same so I pushed a little bit more each lap and at the end I lost the rear and could do nothing to stop the crash. The important thing is that I am ok and we will see tomorrow if we can improve this problem with grip, because it is making it difficult to go fast.” More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda: HEAVY RAIN LASHES AT PORTUGUESE GP OPENING DAY Estoril, 29 October: The LCR Honda MotoGP Team returns to action in Europe this weekend after the extended three-race excursion to Japan, Malaysia and Australia but the first practice of the Grande Premio de Portugal was a washout for the MotoGP class as wind, rain and electrical storms meant that unfavourable conditions resulted in an extremely quiet 45-minute session with LCR Honda MotoGP racer Randy de Puniet hoping for an improved conditions for the second free practice. With changeable weather conditions due to the ocean winds, Estoril round is always a question mark for Teams and riders but the rain stopped in the afternoon free practice which saw Lorenzo on the top of the timesheets with a best lap time of 1’48.522. The 29-year-old riding the LCR RC212V went around the 4.182 Km track 24 times and was happy with his pace in the wet posting the 7th fastest lap time of the session (1’50.043). De Puniet -7th 1’50.043 De Puniet: “This morning I was hoping for better conditions and finally the rain stopped for the second free session. Like in Phillip Island I decided to go for a long run to test the track conditions and I was immediately fast. I made a 45-minute nonstop session with consistent lap times between the 1st and the 4th position. Obviously the other riders improved in the end but at that time I had already tested what we planned to test regarding mapping and engine brake. It was a quite good session for us and I am not worried about the weather because we are pleased with our pace in the wet”. More, from a press release issued by Pramac Racing Team: THE RAIN SLOWS THE FIRST FREE PRACTICE OF THE PORTUGAL GRAND PRIX ON ESTORIL TRACK As it happened during Aragon’s Grand Prix, the riders would have to face today two free practice sessions, forty-five minutes each on Estoril’s track. Unfortunately the rain felt throughout the morning has not allowed the riders to take part to the first free session practice. The track still wet, during the second free practice, did not help the Pramac Racing Team riders, which closed the session with the fourteenth and seventeenth best lap time, respectively with Espargar and Checa. The gap from the first rider of the ranking was huge, Aleix Espargar stopped the clock with over five seconds of gap from the fastest time of Lorenzo. Carlos Checa, who has returned on a MotoGP bike after three years of Superbike, has clocked his best lap time during the last lap, ending the session with six seconds of gap from the lead rider. Tomorrow morning, during the third free practice, both will be able to lower their lap times and be more close to the other riders. Despite the weather condition, the hope is that the white-green duo can be able to make as many lap as possible on Estoril’s track. Fabiano Sterlacchini – Technical Director “The rain had a bit spoiled the day, either Aleix than Carlos needed to run as much as possible on the track and this morning was not possible. We had good feedback from Carlos that despite the difficult change of category, SBK in MotoGP, has since the firsts laps a good lap pace with our bike. His result, after all, is not the worst if we consider the reduced gap that he had accused by some riders who have raced since April in this category. This morning we had identified two wet settings with two different geometries. Thanks to the only lap that Carlos was able to do this morning he had understand which of the two bikes setting he preferred. He had told us that he had not pushed hard because he don’t know yet the limits of his new bike, this gives us confidence for tomorrow because we think he could have significant improve his lap time.” Aleix Espargar – Pramac Racing Team – 14th fastest time in 1’53 .769 “I do not have really much to say, today’s weather conditions haven’t certainly helped me this morning. I was the first rider to exit from the pit lane, but the track was really full of water and with lots of puddles. During this afternoon we worked on the bike setting, we had two alternatives to be developed. We’ve got the possibility to try them both and define which gives more guarantees of performance. It will be vital for me to stay on the track as much as possible during the third free practice tomorrow in order to reduce as much as I can my lap pace.” Carlos Checa – Pramac Racing Team – 17th fastest time in 1’54 .444 “There couldn’t been worst weather conditions for my return in the MotoGP world. Too bad because the rain did not allow me to do many laps as I wanted. This morning tests were completely useless, the water on the track was really too much. There is a huge difference between the Superbike bike that I was able to ride during this year and the MotoGP bike of the Pramac Racing Team, but despite the difference I was able to improve my pace lap after lap. I need time to get used to this new bike that I’ve tested only during a short test on Mugello track, but in completely different conditions. I hope that I can run as much as possible tomorrow morning and improve the feeling with the bike.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: After a morning session that was effectively written off by heavy rain and storms the MotoGP class was finally 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. Ducati rider Nicky Hayden was also on form as he finished just 0.135s 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. 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) all setting top-ten times. Despite the appearance of the sun late in the session the track remained wet, leading to crashes for Héctor Barberá (Paginas Amarillas Aspar), Dovizioso, Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) . 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 was the only rider to record a lap time in the morning completed the session 14th and 15th fastest respectively. Moto2 In the Moto2 class 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 0.388s off Talmacsi, with World Champion Toni Elías (Gresini Racing) showing no signs of any ill effects 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. Kenan Sofuoglu, who is riding for the Technomag-CIP team in the final two rounds, was fourth quickest at just over a second off the lead time, as Raffaele De Rosa (Tech 3 Racing) and Alex de Angelis (JiR Moto2) rounded out the top six. There was still a cautious approach being adopted by the majority of the riders as a gap of over 3.6s separated the top ten, but the Moto2 class were afforded the chance to roll out on slick tyres during the session. Meanwhile Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up), who is closely matched with Simón in the fight for runner-up spot in the Championship, could only set the 34th fastest time in the session. 125cc Alberto Moncayo set the quickest lap in the second 125cc practice session 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. Nico Terol (Bancaja Aspar) the third rider still in contention for the title Esteve Rabat (Blusens-STX) and Espargaró completed a top five which was spread across a gap of 1.655s, with the morning session’s fastest Smith placing sixth but remaining the quickest of the day. Those experiencing the perils of the wet also included Randy Krummenacher (Stipa-Molenaar Racing), Simone Grotzkyj (Fontana Racing), Danny Kent (Lambretta Reparto Corse), Danny Webb (Andalucia Cajasol), Efrén Vázquez (Tuenti Racing) and Zarco as the conditions remained hazardous. More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3: Spies learns fast at wet and windy Estoril Ben Spies conquered another steep another learning curve at the Estoril track in Portugal today, the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team rider ending the opening day of MotoGP practice in an impressive fifth position. The tight and twisty Estoril circuit is another venue Spies has never ridden on before and the task of learning the circuit was made more complicated by this afternoon’s session taking place on a wet track. Conditions were so treacherous as a result of torrential rain and strong winds this morning that Spies and Colin Edwards didn’t even venture out on track as Friday morning practice was restored to the schedule. After a succ essful trial at the Motorland Aragon track in Spain last month, practice and qualifying will run over four 45-minute sessions for the final two rounds. When this afternoon’s practice got underway, the relentless rain had stopped and by the end of the session blue and sunny skies had broken through, which had seemed an unlikely prospect less than an hour earlier. Spies once again demonstrated his skill at learning a new track with incredible ease, the 26-year-old building up his confidence before a lap of 1.49.721 secured him fifth position. The 2010 Rookie of the Year was once again the leading non-factory rider and he’s confident further set-up tweaks to cope with more wet weather forecast for the rest of the weekend will put him in contention for a third podium finish of the season. A heavy crash with just under 15 minutes remaining ended the session prematurely for Edwards. The 36-year-old was able to quickly find a strong rhythm in the tricky conditions and was comfortably lapping in the top three in the early stages. But he slipped down to 12th with a best time of 1.53.510 after a small mistake at turn eighth saw him crash out, the Texan suffering a painful blow to his left hip. As a result of today’s adverse conditions, tomorrow’s practice and qualifying will be run over one hour. Ben Spies 5th 1.49.721 21 laps “Today didn’t start off well with the heavy rain this morning and it just wasn’t worth going out and taking any risks. This afternoon was much better but it was still full wet conditions. It makes it really hard having to learn a new track when the conditions are wet. You just don’t know what the grip is like or where the strong points of the track are and for the first part of the session it was a bit like riding blindfolded. I tried to follow a few people and I got a good feeling pretty quickly though and to be top five on my first day in those conditions is something I’m really happy about. There were a few tricky spots out on the track today and that made it difficult without me fully understanding the limits. A few guys were caught out but I didn’t really have any moments and I’m looking forward to a positive weekend after a strong start.” Colin Edwards 8th 1.53.510 11 laps “The session started really good. I felt confident on the bike immediately and was right at the front for a while. This track is kind of funny because it looks really slick but there is actually a lot of grip and obviously Yamaha has got a really good rain setting because Jorge, Valentino and Ben are all in the top five. I’m sure I could hav e been up there too but I made a small mistake before the chicane. I drifted a little bit wide and all of a sudden the rear stepped out. It came back and I saved it but looked up and saw the wall on the other side of the gravel trap, so I just threw myself off the bike. I banged my left hip but I’m going to be fine for tomorrow.”