Yamaha Factory Racing Riders Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies had mixed fortunes after the first day of practice sessions for the bwin Grande Prémio de Portugal, with the Spanish rider finishing second quickest and the American eighth.

The current championship leader Lorenzo, was fourth fastest in the morning session and progressed to second in the afternoon, just 0.061s off Marco Simoncelli’s fastest lap. The Mallorcan was able to split the Honda’s of Simoncelli and Dani Pedrosa and set consistently quick laps throughout both sessions on day one. After winning in Jerez, the 23 year old is hoping for a dry race this weekend and to improve the braking on his Yamaha ahead of qualifying tomorrow.

Spies came off his bike in first practice and finished in eighth place in both sessions. The 26 year old believes the performance is there within the bike, but more work is required on the set-up to try and compete at the front in the race, whether it be wet or dry.

Jorge Lorenzo, Yamaha Factory Racing

"My feeling is good because we have always been in the first positions. In the morning we finished fourth, in the afternoon second. We are close to the first rider. We have to improve a little with our bike, especially with the braking and in particular the first sector of the track. If we can improve this, maybe we can be closer to the top. I hope the weather stays dry but we are prepared for anything. Obviously we prefer the dry then the wet conditions. To be honest, the pole position is not my goal. My aim is to finish the race on the podium. If we can’t, then we will just to try to finish. The important thing is not to crash and to get some points."

Ben Spies, Yamaha Factory Racing

"It hasn’t been a perfect day, we have struggled a little bit. We went out this afternoon to try and get a feel for the harder tyre. We don’t think that’s the way for the race tyre. We never got the chance to put the soft tyre back on as we were trying different settings. We’re not close to the front but we’re going to find our way back up there and get faster. I’m pretty confident that me and my guys can step up for sure. We just had two off sessions. I think it’s going to be the same for everybody if it rains. I don’t think it will change much as the fast guys will still be fast in the rain and in the dry. Rain or shine, I’m really not too worried about it. I’ve had some seat time on the bike in the wet, but we would always rather ride in the dry because it’s a little bit safer, but for me it doesn’t make too much of a difference. To be in the top two rows for the start is where we need to be. The guys are looking at all the data and are seeing what they can do to make the bike better."