Loris Capirossi leads the final free practice session - MotoGP
Pramac Racing rider Loris Capirossi led the final practice session on Saturday for the bwin Grande Premio de Portugal. The satellite Ducati rider was followed by the Championship point’s leader, Jorge Lorenzo, in second place. Third place was occupied by
Nicky Hayden of Ducati Factory team.
The Italian on his GP11 set the best time for his rivals to follow in the practice session. His time was set a blistering 1: 44.515 seconds on the clock. Capirossi’s best lap time was half a second shorter than the defending World Champion’s best lap time.
Pramac’s rider has claimed two podium finishes at the Estoril circuit in 2001 and 2003.
Friday’s free practice session was followed by rain down pour which continued over night. The MotoGP contenders were welcomed to a damp tarmac at Estoril circuit, with no rain showers during the session. Saturday’s fastest time with no rain but a damp track
was six seconds slower than the best lap time set on Friday’s free practice sessions. Marco Simoncelli led the pack on that occasion. The last practice session was quite and the riders started the day with soft-wet tyres and as the time passed many riders
switched to slicks.
Jorge Lorenzo who managed to be fast and make his place in the top-four places in all three practice sessions was a dead second faster than Ducati team’s Nicky Hayden. The American rider has faced mix results at the Estoril circuit, when he was close to
missing the World Championship title of 2006, after being knocked off by his own team-mate Dani Pedrosa.
1 65 Loris CAPIROSSI (ITA) Pramac Racing Team Ducati 283.8 1'44.515
2 1 Jorge LORENZO (SPA) Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 278.8 1'45.079
3 69 Nicky HAYDEN (USA) Ducati Team Ducati 276.0 1'45.955
4 46 Valentino ROSSI (ITA) Ducati Team Ducati 286.1 1'46.481
5 27 Casey STONER (AUS) Repsol Honda Team Honda 276.2 1'47.676
6 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO (ITA) Repsol Honda Team Honda 276.3 1'47.849
7 26 Dani PEDROSA (SPA) Repsol Honda Team Honda 265.9 1'48.102
8 24 Toni ELIAS (SPA) LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 280.5 1'48.140
9 58 Marco SIMONCELLI (ITA) San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 267.6 1'49.117
10 14 Randy DE PUNIET (FRA) Pramac Racing Team Ducati 262.7 1'50.896
11 17 Karel ABRAHAM (CZE) Cardion AB Motoracing Ducati 245.8 1'51.497
12 5 Colin EDWARDS (USA) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 256.3 1'51.611
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