Cold weather and wind dominate the first practice sessions at Phillip Island.
Provisional front row for Porto and Fonsi in the 250cc and Hayden in MotoGP. Xaus and Barros fifth and seventh respectively.
The weather conditions have played one of the leading roles during the first practice sessions of the Australian Grand Prix. Wind, rain that stopped in the afternoon and low temperatures hindered the riders, except in the 250cc class, to improve the times set last year. Nicky Hayden set the third fastest time behind Valentino Rossi provisional pole – and Sete Gibernau in the MotoGP class, while his team-mate Alex Barros was seventh. Rubén Xaus set the fifth fastest time proving to be in very good shape. In the quarter-of-a-litre class, Sebastián Porto was third fastest just ahead of his team-mate Fonsi Nieto, who is back in the leading position.
In the 125cc, Sergio Gadea got a meritorious fourteenth place after his first contact with the fast Australian track, while Pablo Nieto focussed on the settings of his bike and was not able to be better than ninth. The rain showed up at the beginning of the free practice session of the premier class. The track dried quickly but the times were five seconds slower than last year. Nicky Hayden was fourth and Alex Barros fifth, with Rubén Xaus setting the tenth fastest time on his favourite track. After the first morning contact, the Repsol riders managed to improve their times considerably in the afternoon, and after mounting qualification tyres Nicky Hayden clocked the third fastest time, getting a place on the provisional front row of the starting grid. His team-mate Alex Barros worked on his bikes settings and mounted qualification tyres in the last instants of the session. The Brazilian rider managed to set the eighth fastest time on race tyres and wasnt able to improve the time on qualification tyres because he lacked time. Finally, Barros decided to keep his second set of qualification tyres for tomorrow. Rubén Xaus was fifth fastest on a track he already knows and where he doesnt need an extra time to adapt.
The riders of the 250cc class enjoyed a dry morning session and therefore they were able to equal the times set last year. Sebastián Porto and Fonsi Nieto showed a great adaptation setting the first and third fastest times respectively in the first contact session on the Australian track. In the afternoon, both riders of the Repsol Aspar Team managed to get a place on the first provisional row behind Alex De Angelis and Manuel Poggiali in his return to action. Sebastián Porto was third, less than half a second behind the pole time, while his team-mate Fonsi Nieto was fourth. The plans of the Argentinean rider were hindered during the last two laps, when he was just about to improve his time, unfortunately being unable to improve his third place.
In the 125cc class, the weather conditions played against the pupils of Jorge Martínez Aspar, and therefore today can only be considered as a first contact with the Australian circuit. Ten minutes before the start of the morning session, a short but intense storm joined by hail fell over Phillip Island, and although it stopped raining when the first bikes were getting on the track it reappeared with strength at the end. Local rider Casey Stoner stood-out as one of the riders to be beaten, after setting the fastest time in the free practice and the third in the qualifying session. In the morning Sergio Gadea managed to set the eighth fastest time on a completely new track for him, while Pablo Nieto had to settle for the twenty-first place. Although the sun was shining throughout the qualifying session in the afternoon, the cold, and especially the wind hindered the riders from improving the times set last year. Gadea continued with his quick adaptation to the track. The young rider from Valencia set the fourteenth fastest time, meaning his best classification in qualifying practices so far. Pablo Nieto, who used the session to test different settings for the race, was ninth, less than one second behind the veteran Italian rider Gino Borsoi, who took the provisional pole.
