FIM MotoGP World Championship Estoril, Portugal May 5, 2012 Qualifying Results: MotoGP (all on Bridgestone tires): 1. Casey STONER, Australia (HONDA), 1:37.188 2. Dani PEDROSA, Spain (HONDA), 1:37.201 3. Cal CRUTCHLOW, UK (YAMAHA), 1:37.289 4. Jorge LORENZO, Spain (YAMAHA), 1:37.466 5. Ben SPIES, USA (YAMAHA), 1:37.723 6. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Spain (HONDA), 1:37.917 7. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Italy (YAMAHA), 1:37.943 8. Hector BARBERA, Spain (DUCATI), 1:38.006 9. Valentino ROSSI, Italy (DUCATI), 1:38.059 10. Nicky HAYDEN, USA (DUCATI), 1:38.253 11. Stefan BRADL, Germany (HONDA), 1:38.265 12. Aleix ESPARGARO, Spain (Aprilia-ART), 1:39.353 13. Karel ABRAHAM, Czech Republic (DUCATI), 1:39.398 14. Randy DE PUNIET, France (Aprilia-ART), 1:39.586 15. Yonny HERNANDEZ, Colombia (Kawasaki-FTR/BQR), 1:40.029 16. Michele PIRRO, Italy (Honda-FTR), 1:40.225 17. Mattia PASINI, Italy (Aprilia-Speed Master/ART), 1:40.387 18. Colin EDWARDS, USA (BMW-SUTER), 1:40.964 19. James ELLISON, UK (Aprilia-PBM/ART), 1:41.394 20. Danilo PETRUCCI, Italy (Aprilia-IODA/ART), 1:41.486 21. Ivan SILVA, Spain (Kawasaki-FTR/BQR), 1:41.490 Moto2 (all using Honda engines and Dunlop tires): 1. Marc MARQUEZ, Spain (SUTER), 1:40.934 2. Thomas LUTHI, Switzerland (SUTER), 1:41.054 3. Scott REDDING, UK (KALEX), 1:41.278 4. Johann ZARCO, France (MOTOBI), 1:41.311 5. Pol ESPARGARO, Spain (KALEX), 1:41.424 6. Andrea IANNONE, Italy (SPEED UP), 1:41.461 7. Julian SIMON, Spain (SUTER), 1:41.469 8. Toni ELIAS, Spain (SUTER), 1:41.504 9. Alex DE ANGELIS, San Marino (SUTER), 1:41.536 10. Dominique AEGERTER, Switzerland (SUTER), 1:41.539 11. Takaaki NAKAGAMI, Japan (KALEX), 1:41.636 12. Ricard CARDUS, Spain (AJR), 1:41.671 13. Bradley SMITH, UK (TECH 3), 1:41.733 14. Mike DI MEGLIO, France (SPEED UP), 1:41.815 15. Nicolas TEROL, Spain (SUTER), 1:41.841 16. Esteve RABAT, Spain (KALEX), 1:41.954 17. Mika KALLIO, Finland (KALEX), 1:41.990 18. Simone CORSI, Italy (FTR), 1:42.130 19. Randy KRUMMENACHER, Switzerland (KALEX), 1:42.138 20. Yuki TAKAHASHI, Japan (SUTER), 1:42.319 21. Claudio CORTI, Italy (KALEX), 1:42.359 22. Xavier SIMEON, Belgium (TECH 3), 1:42.377 23. Axel PONS, Spain (KALEX), 1:42.527 24. Roberto ROLFO, Italy (SUTER), 1:42.947 25. Gino REA, UK (MORIWAKI), 1:43.032 26. Anthony WEST, Australia (MORIWAKI), 1:43.134 27. Max NEUKIRCHNER, Germany (KALEX), 1:43.205 28. Ratthapark WILAIROT, Thailand (MORIWAKI), 1:43.450 29. Alexander LUNDH, Sweden (MZ-RE HONDA), 1:44.105 30. Angel RODRIGUEZ, Spain (FTR), 1:44.253 31. Elena ROSELL, Spain (MORIWAKI), 1:45.154 32. Marco COLANDREA, Switzerland (FTR), 1:45.845 Moto3: 1. Sandro CORTESE, Germany (Ajo KTM), 1:47.145 2. Maverick VIÑALES, Spain (FTR HONDA), 1:47.460 3. Miguel OLIVEIRA, Portugal (SUTER HONDA), 1:47.916 4. Danny KENT, UK (Ajo KTM), 1:47.950 5. Zulfahmi KHAIRUDDIN, Malaysia (Ajo KTM), 1:48.083 6. Romano FENATI, Italy (FTR HONDA), 1:48.191 7. Luis SALOM, Spain (KALEX KTM), 1:48.238 8. Efren VAZQUEZ, Spain (FTR HONDA), 1:48.299 9. Hector FAUBEL, Spain (KALEX KTM), 1:48.349 10. Alexis MASBOU, France (HONDA), 1:48.476 More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: Casey Stoner took his first pole position of the season with Dani Pedrosa in second just 0.013 off his team mate in a dramatic qualifying practice session at the Estoril circuit. Both Repsol Honda riders sealed their front row spots for the Grand Prix of Portugal in the dying minutes of the session, which was interrupted by a red flag with eleven minutes remaining due to a crash involving De Puniet and Edwards. The Repsol Honda Team is prepared for a big battle tomorrow with Casey looking for his first victory at this track in the premier class. Dani will be hoping to repeat the win he achieved here last year and also take his 100th career podium. CASEY STONER 1st 1’37.188 “In general it’s been a good day for us and I’m really happy to get pole. FP3 was positive and we made progress on the bike, we had the bike turning well with good front feeling. Unfortunately in qualifying we tried to improve it further but managed to lose the good points! We did find a little better feeling in the rear but we couldn’t get the bike to turn and do what we wanted it to. We didn’t really feel we had the pace to be on pole today, but after the red flag came out with 10 minutes remaining we were able to get out there and put together a good enough lap to take pole. We’ve been pretty fast in every session and our race pace gives us confidence but we’ll have to have a think about which set up direction we go for in warm up and hope this is the best for the race. I was sorry to see Colin has broken his collar bone again and I send him by best wishes” DANI PEDROSA 2nd 1’37.201 “I think we did a good job in qualifying and to be on the front row here after all the issues we had is a great thing. I couldn’t put too many good laps together because I had some problems on the bike, first with the brakes, then with the electronics and by the end I was feeling good but we had to stop again due to the red flag. I honestly think that in the last minutes of the session I could have taken the pole but there was a lot of traffic and I missed it by just 0.013. The race will be very tough tomorrow because the track conditions are poor, the grip is low and it makes the tyres spin a lot. We will try to set up our bike a little better for tomorrow to do our best in the race”. More, from a press release issued by Speed Master MotoGP Team: SIXTH ROW ON THE STARTING GRID FOR PASINI IN THE ESTORIL GP The third free practice and the qualifying session for the “Grande Premio de Portugal Circuito Estoril” were held today, for the MotoGP category. The day kicked off well for Pasini. During the free practice, the Italian, together with his technicians, tried out different options for the tyres, checking their durability and performance, with a view to the race. In the qualifying session, the choices for the set up of the ART machine were finalized, and Mattia set the seventeenth best lap time: therefore, the Speed Master rider will start from the sixth row tomorrow. Mattia Pasini #54 – 17th with 1’40.387 “Today things went pretty well. Finally I have a good feeling with the bike, we started working in the right direction both for the electronics and the general set up of the chassis. I can ride the bike as I like. It’s a shame how things went in the qualifying practice of this afternoon. We could have done better, but we had a problem with the bike that I prefer, and for that reason we had to use the other bike for most of the session. I went out with my favourite bike only for the last run, but in the whole this compromised the final result. In any case I am happy, I think there’s a chance to have a good race tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by JiR Moto2 Team: Zarco impresses in Estoril with a fourth place start for the Portuguese GP Johann Zarco was once again in impressive form aboard his Team JiR MotoBI today during qualifying for tomorrow’s Portuguese Moto2 race. The 21-year-old just missed out on a front-row start in just his third competitive outing on the four-stroke Moto2 machine, but will start tomorrow’s race in a superb fourth place on the grid, just a third of a second down on pole-sitter Marc Marquez. Zarco was always near the top of the timing sheets and took second place behind pace-setter Marquez with 18 minutes of the session still to run, but then he suffered a small crash with ten minutes to go and had to re-start his machine and get back to the pits. In the meantime the Team JiR rider had been bumped down to third and despite rejoining the session he was finally knocked off the front-row of the grid in the dying seconds of qualifying when Scott Redding took third place. Despite this, today has been another very positive showing for the Frenchman, who is adapting well to the four-stroke MotoBI machine. Both team and rider are now looking forward to tomorrow’s race. Johann Zarco Final position: 4th Best lap: 1m 41.311s I am very happy with today’s sessions and my MotoBI. In this afternoon’s qualifying I could follow Marc Marquez and make some pretty good times, so I was in second position for almost all of the qualifying session. Then when I was alone I wanted to get onto a 1m 41.5s pace, which was good, but later I had a small crash on my own, as I was pushing hard. It wasn’t a bad crash and I could re-start but it took some time to get back up to the pace once more and this meant that I lost my position on the front row. Because of this, I am a little disappointed, but I have to also realise that this is quite a good performance in only my third race event on my MotoBI. I think we need to sit and think and understand how I can do these times without being so much on the limit, so it is a case of being fast and safe, but I know this will come with more hard work and experience on the Moto2 machine. I know I can be fast, but this comes with me pushing the MotoBI hard, so I need to get to that limit with a good safety margin. Tomorrow we must be clever in the race and that means that I have to push hard, not crash and finish the race as strongly as I can. More, from a press release issued by Speed Master Moto2 Team: GREAT SECOND ROW FOR IANNONE IN THE QUALIFYING PRACTICE FOR THE ESTORIL GP, DI MEGLIO FOURTEENTH The starting grid for the Moto2 race at the circuit Fernando Pires da Silva was defined today, with the qualifying session of this afternoon. In the free practice of the morning, Iannone and his crew went for some more traditional choices for the set up of the Speed Up machine, achieving an improvement compared to yesterday and turning into one of the ten fastest riders out on the track. In the qualifying practice, the rider from Vasto made some steps forward in the rhythm for the race, achieving a great second row when he was on his last flying lap. Di Meglio and his crew, after a good beginning for the first part of the free practice, took advantage of the rest of the time at disposal to try some modifications to the setting of the bike. In the session of the afternoon the Frenchman was fighting for a better position on the grid, but he crashed out and he was forced to finish his QP earlier than expected. Andrea Iannone #29 – 6th with 1’41.461 “Compared to yesterday, I must say we improved a lot. In yesterday’s sessions I was struggling to ride as I like, I didn’t have a good feeling with the bike and we lacked grip. In the morning we worked to sort the situation out and we managed to make quite a lot of progress. In any case I don’t think it is completely enough for tomorrow’s race: our rivals are very fast and strong, we’ll have to fight quite hard to be competitive in the race. Now we’re going to analyze the data we have, in order to understand where we still have the possibility to improve, we’ll try to understand what direction we need to take and which one we should absolutely avoid. Thanks to the team for their commitment and for the work they’ve done.” Mike di Meglio #63 – 14th with 1’41.815 “I’m sorry because we could have done better. On the last outing, we were using the tyre that should have made us improve, and effectively I was faster quite soon. Then I was slowed down by other riders and I got stuck in some traffic on the track. We need to fix some things to improve the stability of the bike. For tomorrow’s race we should have a good pace, now we’re going to consider some minor changes to make a step forward and risk a little bit less.” More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Stoner snatches pole position in Portugal Round 3: Portuguese MotoGP™ – Qualifying Practice Circuito do Estoril, Saturday 5 May 2012 Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Soft, Medium; Rear: Medium, Hard (Asymmetric) Bridgestone wet tyre compounds available: Soft (Main), Hard (Alternative) Weather: Dry. Ambient 19-19°C; Track 36-40°C (Bridgestone measurement) Casey Stoner continued Repsol Honda’s dominance at Estoril this weekend as the reigning MotoGP™ champion snatched pole position from teammate Dani Pedrosa by just 0.013 seconds in a tightly contested qualifying session that saw the top eleven riders split by just one second. Monster Tech3 Yamaha’s Cal Crutchlow continued his excellent form with the British rider setting the quickest time with seven minutes remaining and ultimately qualifying third as he sets his sights on a maiden MotoGP™ podium. Aleix Espargaro was the best of the CRT riders in qualifying, the Spanish rider piloting his Power Electronics Aspar ART machine to 12th place with a time of 1min 39.353 seconds. Overnight rain meant track conditions for FP3 were still not optimal, though prevailing sunshine and winds ensured a dry track for qualifying. Track temperatures hovered around the high 30°C range during qualifying with riders preferring the harder front and rear slick tyres for the first half of the session before switching to the softer rear slick towards the end of qualifying as the hunt for quick lap-times intensified. With twelve minutes remaining in qualifying an incident between Power Electronics Aspar rider Randy de Puniet and NGM Mobile Forward Racing’s Colin Edwards caused the red flag to be waved. Both riders involved went to Clinica Mobile for medical attention and were later released with Edwards being diagnosed with a fracture to his left collarbone. Tomorrow’s MotoGP™ race at Estoril gets underway at 1300 local time (GMT +1). Shinji Aoki – Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development Division “Track conditions were better today, particularly for qualifying and as expected the battle for pole position was very close. With good track temperatures for qualifying all riders preferred the combination of the softer rear and harder front slick tyres to set their quick lap times with many riders selecting the harder compound in the new specification front slick tyre. If tomorrow presents similar weather conditions to today, I expect the majority of riders to use the same combination of the softer rear and harder front slick tyre for the race. “Estoril is a circuit that often produces amazing races and qualifying has shown us that the level of competition is very close at the moment so I look forward to seeing what unfolds tomorrow. Finally, I would like to extend my best regards to Colin Edwards and I wish him a speedy recovery.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Amid mostly sunny conditions near the Atlantic coast, it was Repsol Honda Team´s Casey Stoner who got his first pole position of the season in the MotoGP™ qualifying session for the Grande Prémio de Portugal Circuito Estoril ahead of teammate Dani Pedrosa. In a frantic final four minutes, Stoner´s time of 1.37´188 was enough to oust Pedrosa into second place on the grid, who will be looking to repeat his win here last year. Finishing off the front row of the grid is Monster Yamaha Tech 3´s revelation of the season Cal Crutchlow, who secured his second front-row start in three races. Heading the second row is Yamaha Factory Racing´s Jorge Lorenzo, who was very unhappy with his performance in the session, as it is the first time in his MotoGP career that he has not started on the front row at Estoril. Behind him in fifth, his teammate Ben Spies left it late to put in his fast lap, after struggling with traffic throughout the session, which saw him almost collide with Speed Master´s Mattia Pasini. Rounding out the second row is San Carlo Honda Gresini´s Álvaro Bautista, who has been the quiet performer this weekend, getting ever more comfortable on his Honda. Seventh place went to Crutchlow´s teammate Andrea Dovizioso, who has been out-qualified by the Brit for the third time in a row. Behind him, Pramac Racing´s Héctor Barberá took the honours for top Ducati in eighth place, in front of Ducati Team rider Valentino Rossi in ninth. While this position will be hardly satisfying for Rossi, he will take heart from being less than a second off the front. Rounding out the top ten is Rossi´s teammate Nicky Hayden, who could not repeat his front-row heroics from Jerez. Top CRT finisher was Power Electronics Aspar´s Aleix Espargaró in 12th. The session was red flagged 11 minutes before the end as Power Electronics Aspar´s Randy de Puniet lost the front end of his bike, taking out Colin Edwards on his NGM Mobile Forward Racing bike. Edwards suffered a broken collarbone, while de Puniet has abrasion to one of his fingers and contusions to his left shoulder. The session was resumed shortly after. Avintia Blusens’ Iván Silva fortunately saved his near crash, by pulling off a tremendous save on his CRT bike late on in the session, as it tried to buck him off. Moto2™ Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol´s Marc Márquez securely cemented his favourite tag with a dominant qualifying performance to take pole position at the Grande Prémio de Portugal Circuito Estoril. In dry and sunny conditions the Spanish championship leader stormed to top spot with a time of 1.40´934, beating close rival, Interwetten-Paddock´s Tom Lüthi, into second by just over two tenths. Marc VDS Racing Team´s Briton Scott Redding continued his good form of the weekend by taking the final spot on the front row. JiR Moto2´s rookie Johann Zarco, who has impressed all season, heads up the second row of the grid, a mere three hundredths off Redding, while Jerez race-winner, Pons 40 HP Tuenti´s Pol Espargaró sits outside of him in fifth. Resurgent Italian Andrea Iannone overcame yesterday´s bike issues, to round out the second row in sixth on his Speed Master machine. Blusens Avintia´s Julián Simón is starting to gel with his Suter chassis, finishing just over five-tenths off the front, in front of 2010 Moto2 World Champion Toni Elías aboard his Mapfre Aspar Team machine. NGM Mobile Forward Racing´s Alex de Angelis low-sided his bike with 18 minutes to go in the session, but had already set the ninth fastest time. He walked away unscathed. Rounding out the top ten is Technomag-CIP´s Dominique Aegerter. S/Master Speed Up´s Mike Di Meglio suffered his second crash of the day as he was pushing for a fast lap late in the final minute, yet suffered no ill effects. Moto3™ Moto3™ qualifying at Grande Prémio de Portugal Circuito Estoril got underway in sunny conditions with Red Bull KTM Ajo´s Sandro Cortese taking his second pole position of the season ahead of Maverick Viñales. With a lap of 1.47´145, Cortese confirmed himself as one of the favourites for tomorrow´s race, starting in front of Blusens Avintia´s championship favourite Maverick Viñales, who was just over three tenths behind. Rounding out the front row of grid is Estrella Galicia 0,0´s local hero Miguel Oliveira, who gave the home crowd something to celebrate. Fourth on the grid is Red Bull KMT Ajo rider Danny Kent, who has found his confidence again after his Jerez crash. He starts ahead of AirAsia-Sic-Ajo´s Zulfahmi Khairuddin, who is starting to make headway after a subdued start to the season. The second row is completed by championship leader, Team Italia FMI´s Romano Fenati, who continues to impress in his maiden year. RW Racing GP´s Luis Salom starts tomorrow´s race in seventh, having set a time just over a second off the front, ousting JHK T-Shirt Laglisse´s Efrén Vázquez into eighth. Vázquez crashed out in turn nine on his final hot-lap, yet walked away unscathed. Finishing off the third row is Bankia Aspar Team´s Héctor Faubel, while Caretta Technology´s Alexis Masbou rounds out the top ten. Bankia Aspar Team´s Alberto Moncayo had a difficult session with his bike stopping at the end of pit lane with a mechanical problem towards the end of the session. He starts from 17th. The Moto3™ class has some notable absentees, as IodaRacing Project´s Jonas Folger is still suffering from glandular fever and has been replaced this weekend by Italian rider Armando Pontone, while TT Motion Events Racing´s Niklas Ajo is replaced by Spain´s Joan Olive, after the Finn was banned following an altercation with a race official at the last round. Italian Manuel Tatasciore replaces Caretta Technology´s Jack Miller this weekend, after the Australian fractured his collarbone in Jerez. More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: Progress for Ducati Team during qualifying in Portugal Today’s event-filled qualifying session for the Portuguese Grand Prix in Estoril saw Ducati Team riders Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden working hard to find a setup for tomorrow’s race. The Italian finished the day ninth-quickest, with his American teammate one position back, and while neither rider is enthusiastic with his grid spot, the session marked a step forward for the team in terms of gap to the front. Rain threatened qualifying, which was briefly interrupted by an unrelated red flag, but in the end both sessions took place on a dry track, giving the Ducati Team valuable time to experiment with settings before focusing on posting a fast time. During tomorrow’s morning warm-up session, Rossi will try to improve acceleration, while Hayden will hunt for better tyre grip. Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) 9th (1:38.059) “The day wasn’t bad in the end. We’re on the third row, 0.8 seconds behind pole position, and we’re matching the pace of the intermediate group, after the top four. We’ve worked better this weekend, steadily making small improvements, and now I’m able to ride closer to the limit and push harder on the bike. We have a lot of work to do, especially on acceleration, where we’re losing time, but for sure it’s our best session so far. We managed to improve in T4, the sector where we had problems yesterday. We loaded the rear of the bike to improve grip, which worked. I’m also doing better on the brakes, so I should be able to fight better during battles. We’ll see. Tyres will be important, because the soft is difficult to manage to the end, whereas with the hard, it’s very difficult to push in the beginning. We’re leaning toward the soft, but we’ll wait for tomorrow to decide.” Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) 10th (1:38.253) “Obviously, this isn’t where we wanted to be. I’m one second from the top, which sometimes isn’t that far off, but here I’m in tenth place. All weekend, we just haven’t been able to find that last little bit, as I’ve had a lot of little problems. For whatever reason, we’re not getting the bike to work the tyre properly, and it’s not really gripping the track. I used the same hard tyre the entire morning session, so I thought I’d take more of a step in qualifying. Some of my used tyres still look like new, but they’re just spinning. We’ve got to sort that out and improve change of direction. We’ve only got 20 minutes in the morning, but we’ll see what we can come up with. It’s going to be difficult. On a positive note, I went much faster than I did here last year in qualifying.” More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda: RED FLAG DISRUPTS BRADL’S QUICKEST LAP AT ESTORIL QUALIFYING Estoril, 5 May: In cool but dry conditions this afternoon, LCR rider Stefan Bradl delivered another positive performance at Estoril GP 60-minute qualifying session but, for the first time this season, the German rookie had to deal with the misfortune as the session was red flagged during his quickest lap. Eleven minutes before the end De Puniet lost the front end of his bike taking out Edwards and Bradl, who was producing his fastest lap on soft rubber, had to slow down waiting for the session to be resumed shortly after. This morning practice saw Bradl hunting a set up to provide more rear grip for his Honda RC213V ahead tomorrow’s race but now he must deal with a tough 11th place start (1’38.265). Stefan 11th: “We have been unlucky today: without the red flag we could take the 7th spot on the grid. I am a bit disappointed because we were doing a good job improving a lot the bike compared with yesterday when we were far away from the top. Today we are just one second to the top but during my quickest lap I saw the red flag in the last corner. Starting from the 11th spot will be more complicate in the beginning of the race but I think we made a good job today and I was capable to adapt my riding style to this track”. More, from a press release issued by Avintia Blusens Racing: Maverick Viñales to start from front row in second position with top chances for tomorrow´s race. Estoril, 5 May 2012. Viñales did a great job in this qualifying practice which was similar to that of Qatar as for the positions Cortese in pole, followed by Viñales second and Fenati in sixth. He snatched the second position on tomorrow´s starting grid and managed a setting-up that will enable him to maintain the pace necessary to remain competitive until the very final lap of the race. Even though Cortese got the pole, the practice was really positive for Maverick who regain strength and self-confidence. The grid was the same as that of Qatar. Let us hope the outcome of the race will also be the same… 25 Maverick Viñales (2º 1.47.460 +0.315): “It was a good qualifying practice. The bile is working fine I am feeling strong and everything points out the chance to do a good race.I have worked a lot for tomorrow and I am feeling self-confident even though it won’t be easy as the times show. We still have some detail to fix during tomorrow´s warm-up. Cortese snatched the pole but I believe it will be a group race at the beginning at least and then we´ll see how many will be left in the battle for the podium. We are confident but steps are to be taken race after race in order to go ahead in the world championship.” More, from a press release issued by Pramac Racing: GREAT DAY IN ESTORIL FOR THE PRAMAC RACING TEAM The second European round of the 2012 season continued today with the 60 minutes which decided the starting grid of the last Portuguese race, finally under a full sunny sky. The Pramac Ducati rider, Hèctor Barbera, put his Ducati GP12 on to the 8th spot on the grid in Estoril this afternoon, in a close qualifying session which saw the first ten riders all within a second of one another. The young rider from Valencia, made a great step forward from yesterday, finding over 9 tenth of a second from day one. Tomorrow’s race will get underway at 13:00 local time, one hour less compared to Central European Time. Hèctor Barberà – Rider Pramac Racing Team – 8th best time in 1’38.006 – “I struggled a little yesterday, in particular because of the tricky track condition, but today I’m much happier and confident with my GP12. I’m so happy to be the much consistent and fastest Ducati on the field, even if toward the end I could have dropped more than 3 tenths of a second. The today’s result highlights the excellent work done by my crew and I have to say thanks to everybody”. Marco Rigamonti Crew Chief Pramac Racing Team “We are happy about today’s result, even though we could have achieved also the second row on the grid. Nonetheless we were able to work constructively for whole day and this made a great base for tomorrow’s race”. More, from a press release issued by Marc VDS Racing Team: Estoril, Portugal – 5 May 2012: The Marc VDS Racing Team’s Scott Redding will start tomorrow’s Portuguese Moto2 Grand Prix from the front row of the grid, after qualifying third fastest at Estoril this afternoon. Mika Kallio will start the race from the sixth row of the grid, after struggling with set-up issues in today’s two sessions. Redding was on a charge from the start today, ending this morning’s 45-minute free practice session third fastest behind Thomas Lüthi and Marc Marquez. Qualifying played out the same way, with Marquez and Lüthi again pushing the Marc VDS rider back to third place, but this time Redding managed to close the gap to just 0.3s compared to the 0.7s of this morning. The 19-year-old Briton has looked strong all weekend and goes into tomorrow’s race confident of being able to fight at the front. Starting from the front row of the grid is already a big advantage at Estoril, which features a tight first turn into which the Moto2 field will arrive at speed. Kallio was disappointed to end qualifying only 17th fastest, after struggling with set-up issues in both 45-minute sessions today. The 29-year-old Finn simply didn’t have the confidence to push for a fast time, on a bike that was moving around underneath him on corner entry and exit. Despite the problems, Kallio is confident that he and his crew can find a solution overnight and that a top ten finish is still a possibility in tomorrow’s 26-lap Moto2 race. In a change to the normal schedule, the Moto2 race will be the first on the program tomorrow, starting at 11.20 local time. Scott Redding #45: 3rd – 1’41.278 “It was close out there in qualifying today and right up until the end I wasn’t sure I was going to make it onto the front row. I kept chipping away at the time, taking a tenth here and a tenth there, before jumping up to the front row right at the end of the session. It’s more important to start at the front here than it is at a lot of other tracks, as it’s a long run from the start to a first turn that comes back on itself. Everyone expects carnage in a Moto2 race and, with the top 16 separated by just one second today I don’t think they’re going to be disappointed tomorrow. Obviously I’m going to be pushing for the podium, but it’s not going to be easy.” Mika Kallio #36: 17th – 1’41.990 “Today was tough. A lack of grip has always been a problem here at this track, but I just couldn’t seem to find any grip at all today. As soon as I turned in the bike would start moving around underneath me. Then, when I opened the gas on the exit it would start moving around again and I’d lose a lot of ground. I was a second off the pace, but it felt like I was completely over the limit. In qualifying I threw caution to the wind and just went for it right at the end. I was just 0.3s off the fastest time halfway round the lap, but then Zarco ran wide and we collided as he swung back onto the racing line and that was that. If we can make some improvements overnight then I think top ten is still possible, otherwise it’s going to be a long race tomorrow!” Michael Bartholemy: Team Principal “Scott did a great job in both sessions today. He was fast and he was consistent and he showed quite clearly that we have the pace to run at the front of the race tomorrow. By qualifying on the front row of the grid he’s given himself the best possible chance of fighting for a first podium finish this season, and that’s exactly what I expect to see him doing tomorrow. Mika has had a tough day. The team have tried a number of different set-up options but we just can’t seem to find the feeling that Mika needs to feel comfortable. We need to sit down with Mika and our engineers tonight, because we need to find a solution ahead of tomorrow’s race. If we do, then I’m confident he can fight his way into the top ten.” More, from a press release issued by Avintia Blusens Racing: Julián Simón gets back to Estoril with a positive result Estoril, 5 May 2012. Julián Simón and the Blusens Avintia Moto2 snatched the seventh position on the starting grid in today´s qualifying practice and this result is like a reward for the effort put in by the rider and the team. Even though Julián could achieve more this result is not to be under-estimated after he went through a particuliar situation in which many factors intervened. Today Julián is feeling at ease again with the bike and he has showed that he has chances for tomorrow especially if one looks at the small difference in time between him and his rivals. Julián is a race person and as today he was able to ride within the same tenth as Iannone or Pol Espargaró the Villacañas rider can definitely expect the best if he manages to maintain the right pace tomorrow. 60 Julián Simón (7º 1.41.469 +0.535): “I am really glad. We have just been through a couple of complicated races especially in Jerez where we were not able to ride with our new chassis. Here we have managed to complete all the steps we had taken and I have been feeling much more self-confident. As a result we did a good qualifying practice which gives us a good chance for tomorrow´s race. We have got a good pace and I hope I will make a good start to be in the lead from the very beginning. I would like to thank the team and the mechanics for the job they did and especially for the encouragement and the trust that they have conveyed in these hard times.” More, from a press release issued by Karel Abraham’s publicist: Karel Abraham finished on the 13th place in qualifying practice in Estoril Czech MotoGP Rider Karel Abraham finished in the afternoon qualifying practice on 13th place with his best time 1:38,398. He lost 2,210 sec on the winner Casey Stoner and will start from the 5th row tomorrow. Karel Abraham “We were trying a lot new things during the practices today as the chassis set up and also new electronics. It is not an ideal situation so far, but we have to deal with it in some way. It is clear I have problems with breaking and I´m losing there a lot. We will do some changes until tomorrow and we will hopefully finish on points.” Marco Grana, chief mechanic Cardion AB Motoracing “Weather conditions were much better today and we were concentrated mainly on breaking. We tried both bikes with different settings, but the main problem is still there. Karel is too soon on breaks than we want to and it´s visible especially on the long fast straights. Now we are going to try making other changes on the motorbike´s set up and we´ll see what tomorrow brings for us.” More, from a press release issued by Avintia Blusens Racing: Yonny completes a good QP and finishes third of the CRTs. Iván Silvá avoids a serious crash in the purest Mamola´s style. Estoril, 5 May 2012. Yonny Hernández completed a very good qualifying practice as he managed to remain fast throughout the training practices hence showing that he has serious chances of the CRTs. In this session interrumpted by a red flag as Colin Edwards and Randy de Puniet crashed with only eleven minutes to go Yonny Hernández proved to be one of the most efficient riders in the class as he crossed the finish in third right behind the highly-advanced ARTs. Iván has been less lucky. Despite he was not familiar with the track and was still working on the development of his Inmotec the Avintia Blusens rider´s progression points out the fact that he could end up among the most competitive CRTs. His chances have eventually grown thinner as he was forced to drop by the box to have his windscreen changed around the end of the session after he had a close shave as he avoided a crash. 68 Yonny Hernández (15º 1.40.029 +2.841): “I am glad because we have got back among the best CRTs after being particularly unlucky in Jerez. We did a great job and were really competitive. We still have to improve the traction and if we manage to do so I could venture and think we can win. De Puniet is very fast and has a good pace but we can measure up.” 22 Iván Silva (21º 1.41.490 +4.302): “We thought we could improve in this qualifying practice but the rear tyre rebounces prevented us from doing so. We have been working on a new bike and it´s natural to have issues to sort as time goes by. We get faster and faster and the more demanding we get the more things to be improved we find out. In spite of everything I was not familiar with the track for example I was forced to drop by the box around the end of the practice to have my windscreen and part of the fairing changed because they got damaged as I was trying to avoid crashing. We made radical changes with only a few minutes to go and it gave me the right sensations but we will have to repeat it in the warm-up in order to make up our minds about the right configuration for tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3: Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team rider Cal Crutchlow stormed to his second front row start in the opening three rounds of the 2012 MotoGP World Championship with another scintillating qualifying performance in Estoril today. Only reigning World Champion Casey Stoner and 2011 Estoril winner Dani Pedrosa were quicker than the British rider, who maintained his incredible qualifying record this season to finish top non-factory rider and leading Yamaha on the leader board. Crutchlow hasn’t qualified lower than fourth in 2012 and once again this afternoon he challenged for pole position in the thrilling final stages of a session that was red flagged with 11 minutes remaining following a collision between Randy de Puniet and former Tech 3 Yamaha rider Colin Edwards. The short delay in proceedings didn’t knock Crutchlow out of his stride and five minutes were left on the clock when he surged to the top of the timesheets with a lap of 1.37.289. That time kept Crutchlow at the top of the standings until just over two minutes remained and at the end he was only 0.101s behind Stoner and 0.088s adrift of Pedrosa. Andrea Dovizioso will start tomorrow’s race from the front of the third row of the grid having set the seventh quickest time. The Italian was disappointed with his pace on the soft Bridgestone tyres in the decisive final moments of the session. Bur he remains confident he will be challenging for a third successive top five result tomorrow having been one of the fastest and most consistent riders on the hard compound Bridgestone rubber. Cal Crutchlow 3rd 1.37.289 28 laps: “To be back on the front row again is a really great achievement for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team and this is reward again for all of our hard work. I am really happy as well to be the fastest Yamaha because that proves what a good job all of us are doing. I was on the hard tyre for the first part of the session working on the race set-up and it felt a little different to what I am used to, but we made a lot of progress with the bike during the session. I felt really comfortable and confident on the soft tyre and felt I could be fighting for the front row. I was actually going to scrap my best lap bu t I made up some time in the last sector and it was good enough for the top three. I’m happy with that but we still have to improve the bike a bit more for the race. I want it to turn a little better and brake a little better. I am looking forward to the race but it is going to be a difficult job. We know Jorge is going to be there and a podium will be very hard but as always I’ll try my best.” Andrea Dovizioso 7th 1.37.917 29 laps: “I’m quite angry to have qualified down in seventh today because we could have done much better. It is always tricky when you have to start from the third row of the grid and I hope my starting position is not going to hamper me at the start of the race. Getting a good start will be crucial but I am really satisfied about my pace on the hard tyre. I was third fastest and only 0.2s behi nd Lorenzo on the hard tyre, so I think my rhythm for the race is going to be very competitive. Qualifying didn’t go quite according to plan. I had a small problem with one engine so we had to check that and switch to the second bike in the middle of the session. And when I went out on the new tyre there was the red flag. I think without a couple of issues we could have been higher up the grid. I feel we have made a lot of progress this weekend, but unfortunately that hasn’t been reflected on the timesheets.” More, from a press release issued by Yamaha MotoGP Team: Traffic Denies Yamaha Front Row in Estoril Today’s qualifying session for the Grand Prix of Portugal proved to be a frustrating one for both Yamaha Factory riders. Jorge Lorenzo led for most of the session until a red flag incident between Colin Edwards and Randy De Puniet forced a restart with nine minutes remaining. A mixture of heavy traffic along with a lack of confidence in certain corners resulted in a gradual drop to a grid position of fourth on the second row, just 0.278 seconds from pole. This will be the first time since 2008 that Lorenzo has not started from the front row of the grid at Estoril. Having finally got his 2012 season firmly back on track with a highly competitive pace, Ben Spies endured an extremely frustrating qualifying session with at least three hot laps interrupted by slower traffic. Having been denied a front row lap time Spies will start tomorrow’s race from fifth on the grid alongside his team mate on the second row. Jorge Lorenzo Position : 4th Time: 1’37.466 Laps: 29 “The main problem for me today was that in turn one and two I couldn’t enter aggressively so I lost a lot of time in this section. In general the bike is not giving me a good feeling so this lap time was the maximum I could get today. We are in fourth but tomorrow is going to be hard as I have to try to pass Cal who is a hard braker! I will keep thinking positive and see what we can do.” Ben Spies Position : 5th Time: 1’37.723 Laps: 26 “It was a tough session for everybody, the annoying thing was that three of my best laps were blocked but that’s just the way it goes. Two of them I think could have been avoided but one of them was just a racing incident. We’re on the second row in the middle and we’re a lot better than we were in Jerez. I feel good on the bike and I just need to keep building the confidence now. Being three tenths behind Jorge at this track is pretty good.” Wilco Zeelenberg Team Manager “It was a tough qualifying, we were on pole up until nine minutes to go so I think fourth looks worse than we actually are. 0.2 of a second is not a lot. We are still struggling on rear grip in corner entry; especially the first two splits so we need to improve the bike. If we can do that we have a good chance to battle at the front tomorrow.” Massimo Meregalli Team Director “We missed the first row but we are pretty close. Traffic compromised at least two or three laps for Ben but overall we are satisfied as we are coming from a really bad weekend. The race will be tough, but we are confident as up to five minutes from the end of qualifying we were really close. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.” More, from a press release issued by Team Thai Honda Gresini Moto2: BROKEN RECORD SYNDROME FOR WILAIROT AT ESTORIL It was the same old story for Ratthapark Wilairot at Estoril today, the Thai rider again unable to find any confidence with his Moriwaki machine and forced to accept a position near the back of the grid for tomorrow’s Moto2 Grand Prix of Portugal. Ratthapark Wilairot (28° 1′ 43″ 450) “We have many problems with the bike and even though we tried to change many things my feeling is not good and I can’t push it in the corner. We’ll try and find the best setting from what we have got to give myself more confidence tomorrow.” Fausto Gresini “You only need to look at the result to see that this is not a good situation for us. The rider confidence is just not there and nothing we try seems to be improving the situation at the moment.” More, from a press release issued by Team Federal Oil Gresini Moto2: PROBLEMS IN QUALIFYING BUT OPTIMISM REMAINS FOR REA Gino Rea suffered another disappointing qualifying session today but the British rider is remaining upbeat after making improvements with the rear setting of his Moriwaki MD600. Unfortunately a mechanical problem prevented him from making the most of his progress this afternoon but Rea is hopeful he can make up positions in tomorrow’s Grand Prix of Portugal from 25th on the grid. Gino Rea (25th 1′ 43″ 032) “We had some big problems in free practice this morning with the quickshifter which meant I had to finish the session early so we had some work to do before qualifying this afternoon. We found a decent setting for the rear of the bike midway through the session but we ran into the same problem with the quickshifter and I had to pull in again. It was a shame but the positive thing is that now we have a setting for the rear and we know which direction we need to go in with the front. I’m confident we could have been in the low 42s so hopefully we can fix the problem and fulfil our potential tomorrow.” Fausto Gresini “The position is not satisfactory but the good thing is that Rea has been able to make some progress today. We will keep working our hardest to give him a more competitive bike and hopefully he will be able to make up positions tomorrow. It is not an ideal situation but we have to keep working.” More, from a press release issued by Tech 3: Smith determined to attack in Estoril Tech 3 Racing’s Bradley Smith has vowed to launch one of his trademark aggressive performances in tomorrow’s Estoril Moto2 race after qualifying in 13th position. Smith powered his Tech 3 Mistral 610 machine to a best time of 1.41.733 in today’s qualifying session, which left him just over 0.2s away from the top six. Working closely with his dedicated Tech 3 Racing crew, Smith made big progress with improving the front-end set-up of his Mistral 610 machine, but is looking to make further improvements to gain more confidence with rear grip ahead of tomorrow’s race. Today’s qualifying session turned out to be a difficult afternoon’s work for Smith’s Belgian team-mate Xavier Simeon. He will start from 22nd place on the grid with a best time of 1.42.377 and he will analyse data with his Tech 3 Racing crew to try and make his Mistral 610 machine a more consistently competitive package over a race distance. Bradley Smith 13th 1.41.733 22 laps: “I’m pretty disappointed on one side to be only 13th on the grid but happy on another because I have been competitive all weekend and at least I am starting higher up than the 19th place I qualified in Jerez last week. I am quite confident for the race tomorrow because I feel really happy with the front-end of the bike. We have go t that working very well but I would like to be a bit happier with the rear. We’ve got some ideas for the race tomorrow so I am looking forward to seeing whether the changes we’ll try in the Warm-up session help. Each time I pushed to improve my time this afternoon I got a bit held up in different parts of the track. If we put my ideal times together I’d have been much faster and that’s why I’m so optimistic of a strong race tomorrow.” Xavier Simeon 22nd 1.42.377 22 laps: “That was a very disappointing qualifying session and it is quite frustrating. Each time we go out on track this weekend I drop further down the rankings and it seems each time we are less competitive. We have tried too many things to find a solution and at the moment what we have tried has not delivered the results we expected. Right now I can’t do more than two fast laps in a row and we have to check what is happening because it is clear Bradley made a big step and we need to do the same. It will be a long night checking the data and trying to come up with a plan for tomorrow that will enable me to be much faster and battle for the points.” More, from a press release issued by Team Italia: MotoGP Moto3 Grande Prémio de Portugal Circuito Estoril (POR) May 4-6, 2012 Weather: cloudy Temperatura: 16 Cº MotoGP Moto3: mixed qualifiers for Team Italia: Fenati is 6th, Tonucci 21st The dry track in the morning and afternoon changed all the reference points for the riders. Romano Fenati managed to interpret the surface correctly, taking advantage of the morning free practice session to get fully acquainted with a track he has never seen before. During the qualifying session, “Fenny” showed some grit, constantly improving his lap times until he posted a 1’48″191 that grants him a 2nd row start from 6th position on the grid. In pole position, Sandro Cortese was 1”046 faster, but Romano mainly focused on getting a good pace for tomorrow’s race. Alessandro Tonucci struggled throughout the session, staying at the bottom of the sheets until the very end. At last, “Tonu” was able to improve to 21st position with a 1’49″397 (+2″252) and will start from 7th row tomorrow. Romano Fenati (Team Italia FMI Yamaha#5) 18 laps, with a 1’48″191″ We struggled a little bit with the setup today due to changing conditions on track, but the team was able to solve the problems quickly. I closed in 6th place, in second row, which is not bad. We preferred to work in anticipation of the race, and I found a constant and fast pace. I’m confident about tomorrow.” Alessandro Tonucci (Team Italia FMI Yamaha#19) 18 laps, with a 1’49″397 “This morning I was quite fast during free practice, but during qualifiers I couldn’t get a good feeling with the bike and ride it like I wanted to. I need to start well tomorrow to stay with the front group and climb my way back.” Roberto Locatelli (FMI Technical Coordinator) “Fenati did a good job and will be able to fight in the front tomorrow. Tonucci had some issues with tyre choice and couldn’t post a fast lap. I’m confident that tomorrow’s warm-up session will help him find the right combination for the race.” More, from a press release issued by Honda: 2012 FIM MotoGP/Moto2/Moto3 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ROUND 03, SATURDAY, MAY 5, ESTORIL, PORTUGAL Weather: Warm and dry Temperature: Ambient 19 degrees C / Track 25 degrees C STONER & PEDROSA SCORE HONDA ONE-TWO AT ESTORIL Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda RC213V) and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC213V) scored a brilliant Honda one-two in this afternoon’s qualifying session for tomorrow’s Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril. Alvaro Bautista (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC213V) will start the race from the second row of the grid after recording the sixth fastest time in the hour-long session. Conditions here have been typically changeable with strong winds gusting off the Atlantic and all sessions have been affected by a track that has refused to completely dry following yesterday’s early morning rain. Even during the first few minutes of qualifying a few spots of rain began to fall, adding some extra tension to proceedings. Following a promising FP3 this morning Stoner and his crew tried some further adjustments to his RC213V, but the changes made the bike slightly worse, delivering more rear grip, but at the expense of turning performance. Stoner has also been struck by a nasty cold and is on antibiotics. Nonetheless the reigning World Champion rallied himself for the final ten minutes when the track was reopened following a brief stoppage due to a crash involving Colin Edwards (Suter BMW) and Randy de Puniet (Aprilia). Edwards suffered a fractured collarbone in the accident. On his first flying lap out of the pits the Australian moved ahead of Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) who had dominated the early stages of the session. But that wasn’t enough to give him his first pole position of the year. Moments later Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha) bettered Stoner and he had to dig deeper to produce another faster lap that put him back on top. At the same time last year’s Estoril winner Pedrosa was giving it all on his final run, the Spaniard crossing the line just 0.013s behind his team-mate. Pedrosa admitted that he had been concerned earlier in the session when he was saw the rain arrived while sat in the pits having some machine issues fixed. Luckily for him conditions stayed fine and he was able to secure his second consecutive start from second on the grid. Pedrosa believes he might even have made pole if he had encountered less traffic during his final attack. Bautista preparing for his third race with Honda scored his best grid position so far in sixth place, 0.729s behind Stoner. The Spaniard’s impressive pace proved once again that he is feeling more and more at home on his RC213V. His previous best qualifying performance on the bike was eighth at last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix. The complex, bumpy and narrow Estoril circuit is always a special challenge, especially for MotoGP rookies like Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda MotoGP RC213V). In fact the reigning Moto2 World Champion was making a typically professional job of his first weekend here on a MotoGP bike, ending free practice in tenth and hoping to improve further in qualifying. Unluckily, he was on his fastest lap when the red flags were shown following the Edwards/de Puniet crash. Bradl believes he would have been seventh fastest if he had been able to complete that lap. Michele Pirro (San Carlo Honda Gresini FTR-Honda) was in the thick of the CRT action, putting his Fireblade-powered machine 16th on the grid. Pirro did not go quite as quick as he had hoped but he is still the fourth fastest CRT bike on the grid. In the frantic Moto2 class Marc Marquez (Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol-Suter) scored his second pole position in a row, just 0.120s ahead of Thomas Luthi (Interwetten-Paddock-Suter). World Championship leader Marquez dominated the session, but was never more than a fraction ahead of the rest of the pack. Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing Team-Kalex) also spent much of the 45 minutes in the frame for a front-row start until he got demoted to the second row during the final few minutes. But the Briton came back strong on his final lap to clock the third fastest lap, just 0.224s behind Luthi. The lap times were typically close in the Honda CBR600-powered class with the top 15 riders separated by a mere 0.907s. The man in 15th spot is none other than reigning 125 World Champion Nicolas Terol (Mapfre Aspar Team Suter) who is gradually getting to grips with the very different demands of the Moto2 category. Johann Zarco (JIR Moto2 Motobi) was in the running for the front row until he had problems in the final few minutes. He ended up fourth to lead row two, just ahead of Jerez winner Pol Espargaro (Pons 40 HP Tuenti-Kalex) and another former Moto2 winner Andrea Iannone (Speed Master Speed Up). Two Honda riders will start tomorrow’s Moto3 race from the front row of the grid. Maverick Vinales (Blusens Avintia FTR Honda) ended this afternoon’s qualifying session second fastest, three tenths behind pole-man Sandro Cortese (KTM) and four tenths in front of Miguel Oliveira (Estrella Galicia 0.0 Suter Honda). Vinales, currently second in the points chase, was happy with his progress in practice and qualifying and is confident that he will be in the hunt for victory tomorrow. Local hero Oliveira joined the battle for pole position, spending some time at the front of the pack, but slipped back to third in the closing stages of the session. Sixteen-year-old rookie sensation Romano Fenati (Team Italian FMI FTR- Honda) , who won his first Grand Prix at Jerez last weekend and now leads the World Championship, was sixth fastest today, almost exactly a second off pole. Efren Vazquez (JHK T-Shirt Laglisse FTR Honda) will start the race from the third row of the grid after recording ninth fastest time. MotoGP rider quotes Casey Stoner, Repsol Honda: pole position 1m 37.188s “In general it’s been a good day for us and I’m really happy to get pole. FP3 was positive and we made progress on the bike, we had the bike turning well with good front feeling. Unfortunately in qualifying we tried to improve it further, but managed to lose the good points! We did find a little better feeling in the rear, but we couldn’t get the bike to turn and do what we wanted it to. We didn’t really feel we had the pace to be on pole today, but after the red flag came out with 10 minutes remaining we were able to get out there and put together a good enough lap to take pole. We’ve been pretty fast in every session and our race pace gives us confidence but we’ll have to have a think about which set-up direction we go for in warm-up and hope this is the best for the race. I was sorry to see Colin has broken his collar bone again and I send him by best wishes.” Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 2nd 1m 37.201s “I think we did a good job in qualifying and to be on the front row here after all the issues we had is a great thing. I couldn’t put too many good laps together because I had some problems on the bike, first with the brakes, then with the electronics and by the end I was feeling good, but we had to stop again due to the red flag. I honestly think that in the last minutes of the session I could have taken the pole, but there was a lot of traffic and I missed it by just 0.013. The race will be very tough tomorrow because the track conditions are poor, the grip is low and it makes the tyres spin a lot. We will try to set up our bike a little better for tomorrow to do our best in the race.” Alvaro Bautista, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 6th 1m 37.917s “We did a good job today. This morning we completed race distance on the hard tyre and it was a positive session. Everything went according to plan in the afternoon too, but on the last soft tyre we ran into a lot of traffic on track and when I tried to push on the very last lap I came up behind Spies in the first turn. It is a dangerous thing to do and I think it is up to all us riders to make sure that when we slow down we move aside and make way for the guys coming behind us. Anyway, a second row start is good for us having qualified on the fourth row in Qatar and the third row at Jerez. Tomorrow we need to make a good start and if we can stay with the guys at the front over the opening laps we can look forward to a good race.” Stefan Bradl, LCR Honda MotoGP: 11th 1m 38.265s “We were unlucky today without the red flag we could have been seventh on the grid. I am a bit disappointed because we were doing a good job improving the bike compared to yesterday when we were far from the top. Today we were just one second from the top but during my quickest lap I saw the red flag in the last corner. Starting from 11th spot will be more complicated in the beginning of the race, but I think we made a good job today and I was capable adapting my riding style to this track.” Michel Pirro, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 16th – 1m 40.225s “Unfortunately I made a mistake on my best lap which prevented me from keeping my promise to the guys, which was a 1’39. They deserve at least that because they are working so hard to help me improve. We know we are behind with development, but as I have said before nobody is losing faith. Hopefully we can get a good start tomorrow and then complete our principal objective, which is to make it to the end of the race.” Moto2 rider quotes Marc Marquez, Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol-Suter: pole position 1m 41.041s “There was a lot of traffic out there at the end of the session it’s normal everyone trying to find a slipstream from a faster rider to make a good lap time. In the end I found some space so I could ride a good lap. We’ve made a few small mistakes here, but step by step we have improved, so I have to thank my team who have helped me a lot. Now I just have to keep calm, keep concentrated and do my best. We will try a few more little things in warm-up because the bike still isn’t 100 per cent.” Thomas Luthi, Interwetten-Paddock-Suter: 2nd 1m 41.054s “We are looking forward to the race and I think that all we really need now is a little luck. The bike is going okay the base is there and that is important. It has been hard work here, trying to get the bike even better than it was at Jerez. Anyway, I think we are ready for the race and ready to try and fight for a victory.” Scott Redding, Marc VDS Racing Team-Kalex: 3rd 1m 41.278s “It was definitely close out there. I’m really happy to be on the front row here because that first corner is so tight that you quite often get carnage after the start. Being up front makes it much easier than being 13th or 15th. I think there will be some good racing out there tomorrow hopefully everyone will keep it clean and have a good race.” Honda Moto3 Rider Quotes Maverick Vinales, Blusens Avintia FTR Honda: 2nd, 1m 47.460s “Today we had a good feeling, above all because we were working with the race in mind. We were riding with a very good pace and we are strong. I think that tomorrow will be a race in which we ride in a group, and tyres will be decisive. We have a good setting and, even though we will make a few more tests with tyres in the warm-up, we are clear about things ahead of the race. We are very confident to have the pace to fight with Cortese and Oliveira.” Miguel Oliveira, Estrella Galicia 0.0 Suter-Honda: 3rd – 1m 47.916 “I’m happy. In the morning we were fast and again in the afternoon too. We have a steady pace, although we lack a little on an out-and-out lap. To start from the first row at my home Grand Prix is pretty good! I hope that everything goes well in the race and that we can have a good pace and be consistent. However, the other riders are very strong, so the aim is to a good start and be up front from the start.” Romano Fenati, Team Italian FMI FTR Honda: 6th 1m 48.191s “Today we had a little difficulty getting a good position on the grid because of the changing weather conditions, but the team did well to quickly resolve any problems. We ended up on the second row, which is good, all things considered. We preferred to work for the race, looking for a steady pace and we feel quite confident for tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by QMMF Racing Team: West confident despite new set-up problems – Rosell aims at a safe race finish Team QMMF rider Anthony West continued to work on a new set-up for his Moriwaki prototype racer on the second day of practice for the Portugal Grand Prix, but made a step into the wrong direction during qualifying and had to settle for 26th place on the starting grid. For the race tomorrow, the 30-year-old Australian will go this one step backwards, but will maintain the higher chassis position that helped him to do competitive lap times in the free practice sessions. Team-mate Elena Rosell battled hard and managed to further improve her lap time at her first Grand Prix on the difficult Estoril circuit, but still holds 31st position on the starting grid. The main aim of the only female rider in Grand Prix racing is to finish the race tomorrow and to gain as much experience as possible. “Anthony is putting in the maximum effort to get the maximum out of the bike, and his analysis of the situation is correct. Moriwaki promised us that we are going to have the new bike for the next race at Le Mans and we are very happy with that. Anthony is a great rider who pushes hard and who he is determined to achieve some strong results this year. We are working together side by side and he has our maximum support. Together, we will be successful for sure”, said FIM vice president and QMMF team owner Nasser Khalifa Al Attiyah. “Elena competes for the first time at a Grand Prix here at Estoril and she needs time to learn this circuit and all the other tracks in the championship calendar. The most important thing for her is to finish the races and to gain race experience. It was a pity that she crashed out of the last race at Jerez and I hope she’ll be able to make it to the chequered flag here at Estoril. She has the potential to be very competitive and the fact that she has such an experienced rider as a team-mate will help her to get the knowledge she needs!” Anthony West 26th in 1.43,134 “I am not as happy than I was yesterday or this morning. This morning it was easy to do a lap time of 1.42,6 minutes and I did 1.42’s quite consistently. Now in qualifying it was nearly impossible to do 1.43’s because I had to fight so much with the bike. We have made radical changes all weekend long in order to get the best out of the bike here at Estoril, and now we made another small change with the springs and it threw the bike completely out of balance. I was sitting on the back wheel again and I couldn’t open the throttle on the corner exits. It’s a small thing but with big consequences. If you go a little bit the wrong direction, the bike doesn’t want to turn any more. Tomorrow, we are going back to the setting we had this morning and we will also try something that we had in the race in Jerez and that should also help to get more weight on the front. If we can do that, beating the other Moriwaki shouldn’t be a problem for me!” Elena Rosell 31st in 1.45,154 “Qualifying is over and I brought the bike home in one piece. The other good thing is that we went faster by about half a second from session to session, so we are on the right track. My main problem is that the bike moves a lot when I open the throttle on the corner exit, and since I had this pre-season injury, right now I simply don’t have the physical strength that I had last year to control the bike. I couldn’t exercise for a month and a half, so even though I was able to repeat my best time several times, it was a very tiring qualifying session for me. Once I am back to full fitness, I will be able to go faster for sure. But considering it’s my first Grand Prix here at Estoril, things aren’t too bad!” More, from a press release issued by Bankia Aspar Team: BANKIA ASPAR RIDERS IN THE HUNT AT ESTORIL KTM-powered riders took up the leading seven positions on the top speed charts today at Estoril, with BANKIA Aspar rider Héctor Faubel the third of them thanks to the added boost of a brand new engine for today’s qualifying practice. His team-mate Alberto Moncayo also benefited from a new motor although he was out of luck due to a technical problem at a crucial moment of the decisive grid shootout. After qualifying ninth fastest Faubel is now hoping to solve a clutch problem before taking his place on the third row of the grid whilst Moncayo, who missed the final few minutes of the session today also due to clutch problems, starts from seventeenth. The third race of the inaugural Moto3 season gets underway at the later time of 14:30 BST. 9th Héctor Faubel (1.48.349, 18 laps): “I’m happy today. Yesterday we had a problem with the engine but we put a new one in today and it enabled me to pass guys down the straight and set a good lap time. It felt more like a race at the end of the session with so many guys out on track but we’re happy with the third row. The team are working hard and so am I and gradually the results are coming. I’ll try to get a good start and get involved in the fight for the podium. We’re only three tenths off the front row today and if I can get behind somebody tomorrow that will help minimise our chassis problems”. 17th Alberto Moncayo (1.49.154, 12 laps): “We went out with a lot of determination in qualifying but things didn’t work out. I felt something strange at the start of the session and the lap times weren’t coming, then the clutch failed. The important thing is that we are quick tomorrow. We start from 17th, basically like Jerez, so I want to get a good start and catch the guys at the front. I want to at least be able to see the podium.” More, from a press release issued by Power Electronics Aspar Team: POWER ELECTRONICS PAIR TARGET CRT DOUBLE AT ESTORIL Espargaró top CRT on the grid after De Puniet crash POWER ELECTRONICS riders Aleix Espargaró and Randy De Puniet are hoping to be the first two CRT riders across the line in tomorrow’s Grand Prix of Portugal after qualifying twelfth and fourteenth respectively this afternoon. De Puniet will race with a minor injury having crashed at the end of qualifying practice, inadvertently taking Colin Edwards to the ground with him and unfortunately leaving the Texan with a broken collarbone. De Puniet escaped relatively unharmed, taking a blow to his shoulder, finger and ribs. Randy later offered his apologies to Colin, who accepted them with typical good grace and the whole team would like to wish him a swift and successful recovery. With his team-mate out of action for the closing stages of qualifying Espargaró took advantage to park his ART machine in parc fermé as the fastest CRT qualifier, clocking the twelfth fastest time. The pair are separated by just two tenths of a second and De Puniet’s physical condition permitting it promises to be an entertaining battle between them on track tomorrow. 12th Aleix Espargaró (1.39.353, 26 laps): “It has always been our objective to be the fastest CRT bike but I didn’t think it would happen today. Randy had a second over me this morning but I knew that wasn’t indicative because he had a new tyre on and I didn’t. I put the new tyre on this afternoon and could have gone even quicker. So far this is the closest we have been to the MotoGP bikes and we’re improving every session. The only thing is that we only have two units of the new front tyre, which solves our chatter problem, so we have to work on the older stuff for the rest of practice. It focuses all your work into just a few laps and today I managed to find six tenths of a second with it.” 14th Randy de Puniet (1.39.586, 19 laps): “It was a really heavy crash with Colin. I was on a flying lap and came up behind him by surprise. He wasn’t on the line but I braked hard and lost the front. I was hoping against hope that neither of us got hurt. I was lucky not to break anything but it hurts my chest when I breath so I don’t think I’ll be 100% but I’ll do what I can. I am disappointed because it happened when I was on a new tyre. Everything went perfectly this morning but the things we tried this afternoon didn’t work and when we went back to the standard setting I crashed. My objective for tomorrow is the same as ever: to be the first CRT.” More, from a press release issued by NGM Mobile Forward Racing Team: The NGM Mobile Forward Racing Team will not be racing at Estoril Colin Edwards was involved in a crash this afternoon during the qualifying session with Randy De Puniet. Luckily for the French man he was able to walk away from the incident and has been declared “fit to race”. After the crash Colin Edwards was taken to the Circuits clinic and was taken care of by Dr. Sarmiento and his team. He was under observation after the accident and has finally been release to leave the clinic. Unfortunately the American rider was not so lucky and will have to fly tomorrow to Barcelona in order to have surgery on his left collarbone. The surgery will most likely be performed by Dr. Javier Mir on Monday. Kornelis Veldeman Crew Chief “We solved a few problems that we had this morning. We did a few laps on old tires and when we changed to the news tires. With the old tires he already improved the lap time from the fasted one he made this morning. The bike seemed to feel good for him and its just a shame to finish the weekend like this with such an unfortunate crash.” Marco Curioni Managing Director “Our main concern is Colin´s wellbeing. We are hoping he will have surgery performed on Monday by Dr. Javier Mir in Barcelona and this is our main concern. The only positive outcome of today would be that the difficulties encountered during this morning’s free practice were solved and during qualifying unfortunately he wasn’t able to get in his fast lap.” More, from a press release issued by NGM Mobile Forward Racing Team: Bad luck for De Angelis, Takahashi making a comeback The search for the setup for Estoril of the Moto2 bikes seems to come close to an end but not without any difficulties. Alex De Angelis suffered a crash early in the qualifying session, preventing him from improving his best lap time after the setup modifications made after the third free practice. Yuki Takahashi will be starting from the twentieth position tomorrow on the starting grid, which does not reflect the potential of the Japanese rider give that he is only 1.3 seconds from the pole position time. Both riders and the team are confident on the changes made this weekend, thanks to which they have achieved a better feeling with their Suters. Alex De Angelis will aim to be with the top group tomorrow and Yuki Takahashi will search to gain positions early in the race to be within the points. Alex De Angelis 9º (1´41.536) “I am really sorry about crashing because today finally I have regained confidence on the bike. The crash actually happened because I was pushing really hard because I felt good on the bike, I was finally able to follow Marquez. Even if the feeling with the bike has improved there are still a bit of trouble with the front of the bike, which moves a lot and because of this I actually crashed. Overall I’m happy because even if I crash early in the session and I wasn’t able to improve my lap time but it is still the best starting grid position so for this season. I am convinced that tomorrow during the warm-up session we will be able to make few minor modifications that will help improve the feeling. ” Yuki Takahashi 20º (1´42.319) “From Jerez to here, this race we changed a lot. For me this is a very important race to make and today we have good weather and we were able to modify some things that really made a difference for this weekends setting. The position is not great but the feeling with the bike has improved. I feel we are working in the right direction. Tomorrow for the race we will se what happens after all that we have changed today.” Pietro Caprara Moto2 Technical Manager “Yuki has improved since thee Jerez race in terms of the setting, specially in the front of the bike where he has found more confidence. Even if tomorrow’s starting grid position does not represent his real potential, we are all confident for the race but yet again the weather could be a determining factor. Alex´s position today is better if you take into consideration the last races. We have found a very important point this that has contributed to improve his feeling with the front. It is a shame that he was not able to improve his position because he crashed but we are very confident because he seems happy and is looking forward to the race. Obviously the weather can still change but overall we have good expectations for tomorrow.”