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: 1stTime: 1’48.522Laps: 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: 3rdTime: 1’48.883Laps: 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.”

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.

Ben Spies – Position: 5thTime: 1’49.721 Laps: 21
“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 – Position: 8thTime: 1’53.510Laps: 11
“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.”

Circuit Length: 4182
Temp: 19
Weather: Wet

Lap Record: 1’36.937 (Daniel Pedrosa, 01/01/2009)
Fastest Lap Ever: 1’35.715 (Jorge Lorenzo, 13/04/2008)
Last Years Winner: Jorge Lorenzo

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