San Carlo Honda Gresini Team rider Marco Simoncelli made a positive start to his weekend for the bwin Grande Prémio de Portugal by setting the early pace in the first practice at Estoril. Repsol Honda riders’ Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa were second and third quickest in a closely fought session.
The Italian was fastest after his disappointment of crashing out whilst leading the wet race in Spain. The 24 year old’s best time of 1’38:032 was an advantage of 0.209s faster than the Australian after collecting the quickest time of FP1 in the dying moments.
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MotoGP: Marco Simoncelli Fastest in First Practice at Estoril
At the undulating circuit in Portugal, the weather predictions had suggested for variable conditions but the first practice of the weekend for the MotoGP class was run in cloudy and humid conditions. After a three week break after Jerez, many riders were returning to the track following surgery from injuries.
Stoner had a problem with a loose cable in the early stages of the first practice which saw him sitting in the pits whilst it was fixed. The 25 year old clawed his way to the top of the timesheets with a few minutes remaining but was edged out by his fellow Honda rider. After surgery on his shoulder, Pedrosa completed 19 laps to finish 0.227s off Simoncelli’s best lap. motogp.com
Pos. Num. Rider Team Time 1 58 Marco SIMONCELLISan Carlo Honda Gresini 1'38.032 2 27 Casey STONER Repsol Honda Team 1'38.241 3 26 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1'38.259 4 1 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha Factory Racing 1'38.413 5 46 Valentino ROSSI Ducati Team 1'38.569 6 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSORepsol Honda Team 1'38.781 7 5 Colin EDWARDS Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1'38.862 8 11 Ben SPIES Yamaha Factory Racing 1'38.895 9 8 Hector BARBERA Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP 1'39.042 10 14 Randy DE PUNIET Pramac Racing Team 1'39.779 11 65 Loris CAPIROSSI Pramac Racing Team 1'39.848 12 7 Hiroshi AOYAMA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'39.856 13 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1'40.129 14 69 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1'40.199 15 24 Toni ELIAS LCR Honda MotoGP 1'40.407 16 17 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 1'40.469 17 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1'41.034
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