This morning’s free practice at Estoril on a damp and slippery track was for most of the riders was done halfheartedly with more or less the attitude of ‘if we have to’ let’s put in some laps without taking to many risks, with several riders electing to sit it out until the last five minutes of the practice.
Due to the dampness, lap times were more than 9 seconds off of yesterday’s times and the surprise of the session was that Loris Capirossi on his Pramac Ducati ended up being the fastest rider after putting in an impressive run of fast laps, at least for a track in these conditions.
Taking second was Jorge Lorenzo who was a half of a second from the veteran Italian rider in a not to serious last lap lunge, while Nicky Hayden also in a last lunge took the third spot from team mate Valentino Rossi, but he was 1.
440s from Capirossi.
Following Rossi was who else but Casey Stoner, and we can safely say that Rossi did not follow Stoner like a dog and grab a tow to make his lap time as the Repsol Honda rider was 3.
161s from the top spot.
Sixth and seventh went to the other Repsol Honda riders, Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa.
While Toni Elias, Marco Simoncelli and Randy de Puniet rounded out the top ten and Alvaro Bautista sat out the session, waiting for qualifying this afternoon.
MotoGP Estoril FP3 results:01- Loris Capirossi – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – 1’44.
51502- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing Team – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
56403- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Marlboro Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – + 1.
44004- Valentino Rossi – Ducati Marlboro Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – + 1.
96605- Casey Stoner – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC212V – + 3.
16106- Andrea Dovizioso – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC212V – + 3.
33407- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC212V – + 3.
58708- Toni Elias – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC212V – + 3.
62509- Marco Simoncelli – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC212V – + 4.
60210- Randy De Puniet – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – + 6.
38111- Karel Abraham – Cardion AB Motoracing – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – + 6.
98212- Colin Edwards – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 7.
09613- Ben Spies – Yamaha Factory Racing Team – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 7.
59614- Hector Barbera – Mapfre Aspar Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – + 8.
18915- Hiroshi Aoyama – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC212V – + 9.
15516- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 9.
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