Daniel Pedrosa was once again the man to watch in the 250cc class on the first day of qualifying at the Portuguese Grand Prix. Despite never having enjoyed this circuit in the past, without a single podium to show for his efforts here, the World Champion lapped two tenths inside his own pole record from last season and was well inside Toni Elías’ circuit record with a time of 1’41”595.
Hiroshi Aoyama had to make do with the third row of the grid today after a problem with the bike he was most comfortable with. The Japanese rider is currently a long way off his team-mate’s pole time but is confident that he can launch an attack for a better grid position tomorrow.
DANI PEDROSA (1st 1’41”285): “The track improved a lot from the morning to the afternoon, there was bit more grip and we improved the lap times from last year, which is always a good thing. The wind was blowing hard, probably more so than past seasons, but it’s bearable for the time being. We still have to refine the set-up of the bike to improve my race pace but we haven’t yet done a long stint as we’ve been focusing on finding the best setting for the bike. The weather is changeable but hopefully we can keep working without any rain.”
HIROSHI AOYAMA (10th, 1’43”043): “We started the session comparing data from both bikes and I felt better with the number 2 machine. We concentrated on that but when I went for a fast lap I had a problem. I don’t know what it was but I had to come into the box. I changed bikes but I didn’t have time to improve my lap time. The most positive thing is that my feeling with the bike improved throughout the day so tomorrow I’m sure we can take another step forward”.
LAP TIMES
1. Dani Pedrosa (Esp/Honda) 1’41”285
2. Randy De Puniet (Fra/Aprilia) + 0”029
3. Sebastián Porto (Arg/Aprilia) + 0”291
4. Alex De Angelis (RSM/Aprilia) + 0”525
5. Andrea Dovizioso (Ita/Honda) + 1”016
10. Hiroshi Aoyama (Jap/Honda) + 1”758