Yamaha Factory Racing rider Ben Spies was back on form in Estoril today for the first practice sessions of the Portuguese Grand Prix. The Texan was one of the first riders to venture out in the morning session, braving mixed track conditions of wet and dry to test a big set up change. The new direction proved to be confidence inspiring, Spies topping the morning timesheets and remaining highly competitive in the afternoon, leading for a while and eventually finishing in second place, 0.321 seconds behind Casey Stoner.

Team mate Jorge Lorenzo decided to sit out the morning session with little valuable data to be gained from the mixed track conditions. The afternoon session saw him hunting a set up to provide more rear grip for his YZR-M1, eventually settling for fifth in the timesheets. The team will look to find a solution tomorrow to be ready for qualifying. Today marks not only Lorenzo’s 25th birthday but also the ten-year anniversary to his first GP session at the Jerez circuit.

Ben Spies - Position 2nd - Time 1.38.717 - Laps 33

“It’s a good feeling today but it’s still early, it’s Friday. The most important thing is I have to thank my crew, they made a huge change to the bike, not only to the front but we also changed some rider position settings that I asked for and the bike seems good. Not only are the lap times fast, it’s much easier to ride at that speed than the slower times at Jerez. Right now the bike is quick and easy to ride, we need to make some more improvements to it. To be in the top three on the first day after two difficult weekends is a positive start.”

Jorge Lorenzo - Position 5th - Time 1.38.930 - Laps 16

“Today was so-so because we didn’t find a good set up or a good feeling with the bike. Also the new asphalt is not the best, I think it’s worse than last year in some places and also the weather doesn’t help with some wet patches in corners. I expect a lot of things to improve tomorrow, especially the rear of the bike which is not right in some corners.”

Wilco Zeelenberg - Yamaha Factory Racing Team Manager

“This afternoon was the first free practice for us as we sat out the morning due to the weather conditions. We’re not perfect yet; we’re missing some rear grip, especially in corner entry so we need to find it for tomorrow. We’re confident we will and will be ready for qualifying.”

Massimo Meregalli - Yamaha Factory Racing Team Director

“Definitely a promising start today, the new set up is giving Ben the right confidence so now it’s a matter of some little adjustments but he is up there which is the most important thing. Jorge missed the morning session due to the bad conditions; I think tomorrow he will be where he should be. A good starting day, let’s see what tomorrow brings.”



Cal Crutchlow's phenomenal start to the 2012 MotoGP World Championship continued in impressive fashion in Portugal this afternoon, the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team rider finishing third quickest after the opening two practice sessions.

The British rider completed just five laps in tricky conditions this morning when treacherous wet patches left by overnight rain prevented vital work on the race set-up of his YZR-M1 machine from being carried out at the 2.599 miles Estoril circuit.

In cool but dry conditions this afternoon, Crutchlow del ivered another stunning performance to back up his fantastic fourth place finishes in Qatar and Jerez, and the former World Supersport champion was challenging for a top three placing throughout.

He ended with a best time of 1.38.742 to easily finish top non-factory rider on the leaderboard and he was only 0.025s behind factory Yamaha rider Ben Spies. Crutchlow's pace was only 0.346s off the fastest time set by reigning World Champion Casey Stoner and he is confident that he can convert his early weekend speed into a top five challenge on Sunday.

The dry conditions this afternoon were a welcome boost for Andrea Dovizioso, who is concentrating on fine-tuning his riding style to best suit the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 machine.

The Italian rider has impressed with top five finishes in the op ening two rounds in 2012 but he still believes he can make significant strides in improving his confidence and feeling with the YZR-M1. He tried a different swingarm this afternoon and finished with a best time 1.39.615. That put him 10th on the combined timesheets and he is optimistic he can lap considerably faster with further modifications to his bike ahead of tomorrow's final free practice and qualifying.

Cal Crutchlow - Position 3rd - Time 1.38.742 - Laps 25

“I'm happy with the way we have started this weekend. This morning was similar to the first session in Jerez and we couldn't really learn anything with the track being so damp in parts. The problem was the patches were really big at the last corner and to be honest it was pretty dangerous, so we might have to look at that in the Safety Commission. We never changed the tyres from this morning to the afternoon and that is a big plus. For that reason I'm really happy with the pace I was able to set, especially because we know that some other guys did put in a new tyre at the end to go a bit quicker. We were just concentrating on working on the race set-up and we still have plenty of margin to improve. The first two races have given me a lot of confidence and I am looking forward to carrying on the good start this weekend.”


Andrea Dovizioso - Position 10th - Time 1.39.615 - Laps 29

“We tried a different swingarm on the second bike during my last run and when we made this modification we also changed the rear tyre, but it did not get to the right temperature. We tried to find out if the swingarm or the tyre was the problem but because of this situation we lost quite a lot of time and I am a bit frustrated because until that moment we were close to the fastest time. I was feeling well on the bike and I was sure I still had some margin to improve my time. It is important to try the parts to help us improve and we will be in a better situation tomorrow. I just hope that we will have good weather to continue the work we started this afternoon.”


1 Casey Stoner Honda AUS 1'38.396
2 Ben Spies Yamaha USA 1'38.717
3 Cal Crutchlow Yamaha GBR 1'38.742
4 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 1'38.797
5 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha ESP 1'38.930
6 Alvaro Bautista Honda ESP 1'38.959
7 Nicky Hayden Ducati USA 1'39.029
8 Hector Barbera Ducati ESP 1'39.193
9 Valentino Rossi Ducati ITA 1'39.357
10 Andrea Dovizioso Yamaha ITA 1'39.615
11 Karel Abraham Ducati CZE 1'40.207
12 Stefan Bradl Honda GER 1'40.898
13 Randy De Puniet ART FRA 1'41.088
14 Aleix Espargaro ART ESP 1'41.634
15 Yonny Hernandez BQR-FTR COL 1'41.638

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