Portugal GP. 2nd qualifying practice

Fastest time for Pedrosa; Rossi and Nieto on the first row as well
Valentino Rossi and Fonsi Nieto set the third fastest times in their respective classes
 The sun, the rain and the wind took turns today during the second qualifying session. After the free practice sessions of the three classes this morning, carried out under wet conditions due to the rain, the weather improved in the afternoon, allowing for dry conditions during the timed sessions of the three classes. In the MotoGP class, the timed session began on a wet track due to the rainfall after the 125cc qualifying session, but twenty minutes before the end of the session, the track had dried and the riders went on the track in order to improve yesterday’s times. The pole was finally taken by Carlos Checa and his Yamaha, followed by the Hondas of Kato and Valentino Rossi. The second Repsol Honda RC 211 V ridden by Tohru Ukawa finished on eighth place and will start tomorrow from the second row of the starting grid. In the 250cc, the second qualifying session was carried out completely under dry conditions, although the times were not improved until the end of the session, as happened in the MotoGP class. The pole position was taken by the Argentinean Sebastián Porto, followed by Marco Melandri and Fonsi Nieto, who after taking three consecutive poles had to make do with the third place this time, after having technical problems during yesterday’s and today’s practices. His team-mate Toni Elias, who had shown a great performance yesterday, went on working on the set-ups of his bike for the race finishing sixth fastest.  The most attentive rider of the 125cc today was Dani Pedrosa, and that awarded him the fastest time of the session. A bit over two minutes before the end of the timed session, a light rainfall showed up on the Portuguese track. Only a couple of seconds before, Pedrosa had already set his fastest time, leaving no option for his rivals to try to improve it. Joan Olivé was twelfth fastest and will start tomorrow from the third row.