Positive first day for Repsol riders in Estoril.
Sebastián Porto sets a new provisional pole time in the 250cc; Alex Barros third in MotoGP and Nicky Hayden will not start this weekend due to his collarbone injury
Nicky Hayden has finally not taken part in the free practice this morning and has decided, together with his team, not to take part in the Grand Prix, following the recommendations of the medical staff. Hayden, who crashed last Saturday while practising Supermotard, fracturing his right collarbone, will be back in two weeks time at the Japanese Grand Prix in Motegi. But his team-mate Alex Barros did take part in the first qualifying session and with a good performance. On his Repsol Honda RC 211V, Barros set the fastest time in the free practice and finished third after the timed session in the afternoon. The morning however, did not start well for the Brazilian rider. He suffered a light crash in a corner, where humidity played a dirty trick on the rider – the same corner where Gadea and several other riders had crashed before – but it didn’t hinder Barros from setting the fastest time of the session. In the afternoon, three riders where fighting for the pole -Rossi, Gibernau and Barros-, the same three riders that are right now firm candidates for the victory on Sunday. Rubén Xaus had no reference about the track until today, and he used the day to get used to the Portuguese track. Sixteenth in the morning’s free practice, Xaus managed to be twelfth during most of the afternoon’s session, but D’Antin’s pupil was set back to sixteenth in the final instants when most of the riders decided to use qualifying tyres.
Sebastián Porto, after his victory in the recent Czech Grand Prix, firmly dominated the first practices in Estoril. The Argentinean rider of the Repsol Aspar Team started setting the fastest time in the morning, ahead of De Angelis, Elias and his team-mate Fonsi Nieto. In the afternoon, Porto fought hard for the lead against Elias, Pedrosa and De Puniet, which were the most outstanding riders of the first qualifying session. The fastest time was finally set by the Repsol rider, thus assuring the leading spot on the grid, should the rain show up tomorrow, as forecasted by the weather reports. Fonsi Nieto, focussed on the set-up of his Aprilia set the eighth fastest time of the session.
The third place with two minutes left for the end of the qualifying session in the minor class seemed to mean that Pablo was going to clinch a place on the front row of the starting grid. But in the final instants of the session, several riders entered the fight for the provisional pole and Pablo, who was hindered by slower riders in his last fast lap, fell back to the ninth place and consequently to the third row of the provisional starting grid. His team-mate Sergio Gadea had not a good start at the Estoril Grand Prix. He had a light crash this morning during the free practice on a wet section. The crash was light, but it completely changed the Repsol rider’s practice plans. Twenty-ninth in the morning’s free practice, Sergio and his team managed to recover from the incident setting finally the twentieth fastest time
