Álvaro continued his good form at Estoril in the qualifying, again finishing the session in sixth position and with a good consistent pace, starting tomorrow’s race from the second row on the grid. This is one of his best qualifying results in his MotoGP career so far. He’s only started once from second row at Valencia last year while he was promoted to first row at Phillip Island in 2011.

But until the chequered flag came out it was a more than hectic session. Álvaro started it well, sticking with the top four for the first quarter of the session and sitting in 5th when some rain drops appeared again about halfway through. Many riders opted to wait out the rain scare and luckily no more water was coming, so all riders were able to go back out to try and improve their laptime.

With just over eleven minutes left on the clock, Randy De Puniet crashed out, collecting an unsuspecting Colin Edwards who looked to have fractured his collarbone from the hard impact and was lying near the track, causing a red flag.

After the pitlane opened again about five minutes later it became a frantic finale of the session, all riders trying to set one fast lap and creating a lot of traffic which held the faster riders up.

Also Álvaro had a hard time finding a free bit of tarmac to ride on, but finally managed to move back up the order to sixth and had enough time left for another try, but then was held up by Ben Spies who sat up right in front of him on the finish line.

Overall a good weekend for Álvaro so far, consistently staying with the second group and showing a good race pace. The final sector and corner remains the toughest part of the track where most riders lose out substantially as there’s still a damp patch on the racing line. Álvaro is losing out in the fourth sector like most other riders, but is looking very fast in the first two sectors.

Pos. Rider Team Time Gap 1st/Prev.
1 Casey STONER Repsol Honda Team 1’37.188
2 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1’37.201 0.013 / 0.013
3 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’37.289 0.101 / 0.088
4 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha Factory Racing 1’37.466 0.278 / 0.177
5 Ben SPIES Yamaha Factory Racing 1’37.723 0.535 / 0.257
6 Alvaro BAUTISTA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’37.917 0.729 / 0.194
7 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’37.943 0.755 / 0.026
8 Hector BARBERA Pramac Racing Team 1’38.006 0.818 / 0.063
9 Valentino ROSSI Ducati Team 1’38.059 0.871 / 0.053
10 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1’38.253 1.065 / 0.194
11 Stefan BRADL LCR Honda MotoGP 1’38.265 1.077 / 0.012
12 Aleix ESPARGARO Power Electronics Aspar 1’39.353 2.165 / 1.088
13 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 1’39.398 2.210 / 0.045
14 Randy DE PUNIET Power Electronics Aspar 1’39.586 2.398 / 0.188
15 Yonny HERNANDEZ Avintia Blusens 1’40.029 2.841 / 0.443
16 Michele PIRRO San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’40.225 3.037 / 0.196
17 Mattia PASINI Speed Master 1’40.387 3.199 / 0.162
18 Colin EDWARDS NGM Mobile Forward Racing 1’40.964 3.776 / 0.577
19 James ELLISON Paul Bird Motorsport 1’41.394 4.206 / 0.430
20 Danilo PETRUCCI Came IodaRacing Project 1’41.486 4.298 / 0.092
21 Ivan SILVA Avintia Blusens 1’41.490 4.302 / 0.004

The third and final free practice of the MotoGP class at Estoril took place under sunshine and some clouds this morning, but with the wet patch in the final corner still not being dried out and hampering most riders a little bit in the last sector of the track.

It’s been another good session for Álvaro who finished again in sixth position, just over a second behind fastest man Dani Pedrosa who shook off a mechanical issue halfway through the session to narrowly push his teammate Stoner from the first position in the end. Álvaro’s been within the top ten throughout the session and managed to consistently improve his pace to post the sixth-fastest laptime, close to Dovizioso in fifth.

The weather forecast for the rest of the day would also see a dry qualifying this afternoon with riders hoping for the remaining damp patches on the track to finally resolve until then.

Pos. Rider Team Time Gap 1st/Prev.
1 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1’37.326
2 Casey STONER Repsol Honda Team 1’37.338 0.012 / 0.012
3 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha Factory Racing 1’37.680 0.354 / 0.342
4 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’38.086 0.760 / 0.406
5 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’38.273 0.947 / 0.187
6 Alvaro BAUTISTA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’38.332 1.006 / 0.059
7 Valentino ROSSI Ducati Team 1’38.443 1.117 / 0.111
8 Ben SPIES Yamaha Factory Racing 1’38.558 1.232 / 0.115
9 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1’38.602 1.276 / 0.044
10 Stefan BRADL LCR Honda MotoGP 1’38.714 1.388 / 0.112
11 Hector BARBERA Pramac Racing Team 1’38.856 1.530 / 0.142
12 Randy DE PUNIET Power Electronics Aspar 1’39.361 2.035 / 0.505
13 Aleix ESPARGARO Power Electronics Aspar 1’40.225 2.899 / 0.864
14 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 1’40.374 3.048 / 0.149
15 Yonny HERNANDEZ Avintia Blusens 1’40.561 3.235 / 0.187
16 Mattia PASINI Speed Master 1’40.875 3.549 / 0.314
17 Michele PIRRO San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’41.379 4.053 / 0.504
18 Ivan SILVA Avintia Blusens 1’41.772 4.446 / 0.393
19 Danilo PETRUCCI Came IodaRacing Project 1’42.002 4.676 / 0.230
20 James ELLISON Paul Bird Motorsport 1’42.103 4.777 / 0.101
21 Colin EDWARDS NGM Mobile Forward Racing 1’42.145 4.819 / 0.042

It’s been a good second free practice for Álvaro at Estoril this afternoon, sitting comfortably in fourth position towards the end of the practice and only being narrowly pushed down to 6th in the final seconds. But with a gap of just over half a second to fastest man Stoner and being able to set very similar times not only for one lap, he looks to have a good base setup already for the rest of the weekend, should it stay dry for qualifying and the race.

Pos. Rider Team Time Gap 1st/Prev.
1 Casey STONER Repsol Honda Team 1’38.396
2 Ben SPIES Yamaha Factory Racing 1’38.717 0.321 / 0.321
3 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’38.742 0.346 / 0.025
4 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1’38.797 0.401 / 0.055
5 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha Factory Racing 1’38.930 0.534 / 0.133
6 Alvaro BAUTISTA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’38.959 0.563 / 0.029
7 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1’39.029 0.633 / 0.070
8 Hector BARBERA Pramac Racing Team 1’39.193 0.797 / 0.164
9 Valentino ROSSI Ducati Team 1’39.357 0.961 / 0.164
10 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’39.615 1.219 / 0.258
11 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 1’40.207 1.811 / 0.592
12 Stefan BRADL LCR Honda MotoGP 1’40.898 2.502 / 0.691
13 Randy DE PUNIET Power Electronics Aspar 1’41.088 2.692 / 0.190
14 Aleix ESPARGARO Power Electronics Aspar 1’41.634 3.238 / 0.546
15 Yonny HERNANDEZ Avintia Blusens 1’41.638 3.242 / 0.004
16 Mattia PASINI Speed Master 1’41.973 3.577 / 0.335
17 Michele PIRRO San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’42.252 3.856 / 0.279
18 Colin EDWARDS NGM Mobile Forward Racing 1’42.587 4.191 / 0.335
19 Ivan SILVA Avintia Blusens 1’42.804 4.408 / 0.217
20 Danilo PETRUCCI Came IodaRacing Project 1’42.984 4.588 / 0.180
21 James ELLISON Paul Bird Motorsport 1’43.665 5.269 / 0.681

Most riders left it late to set a time at the Grande Prémio de Portugal Circuito Estoril in the first practice session, which saw Factory Yamaha Racing´s Ben Spies set the best time in awkward conditions.

In a similar vein to the first practice session in Jerez, the Portuguese MotoGP weekend started with a part-wet circuit, which was drying out throughout the session under partial sun. Only a handful of riders started the practice on wet tyres, until almost the entire field went out on slicks with ten minutes to go.

In the dying seconds, Spies set the fastest lap with a 1.40´813, stealing first spot from Ducati Team´s Nicky Hayden, who is looks to be continuing his practice form from Spain. His teammate Valentino Rossi will be buoyed by his third place finish at the mostly-dry track, after struggling in such conditions at the previous round.

Repsol Honda´s Casey Stoner was just under a second off the pace in fourth, followed by San Carlo Honda Gresini´s Álvaro Bautista. Monster Yamaha Tech 3´s Cal Crutchlow was a further three tenths behind Stoner, and once again outpaced his team mate Andrea Dovizioso.

Behind him, Repsol Honda´s Dani Pedrosa finished eighth fastest, ahead of surprise inclusion Yonny Hernandez aboard his Avintia Blusens CRT bike. Rounding out the top ten was Cardion AB Motoracing´s Karel Abraham.

Yamaha´s current championship leader Jorge Lorenzo and Pramac Racing Team´s Hèctor Barberá opted not to set a time in the session.

Much like at Jerez, this session gave very little indication of actual form, as many riders will not have been pushing for a competitive lap.

Pos. Rider Team Time Gap 1st/Prev.
1 Ben SPIES Yamaha Factory Racing 1’40.813
2 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1’41.086 0.273 / 0.273
3 Valentino ROSSI Ducati Team 1’41.502 0.689 / 0.416
4 Casey STONER Repsol Honda Team 1’41.943 1.130 / 0.441
5 Alvaro BAUTISTA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’42.230 1.417 / 0.287
6 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’42.291 1.478 / 0.061
7 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’42.343 1.530 / 0.052
8 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1’43.078 2.265 / 0.735
9 Yonny HERNANDEZ Avintia Blusens 1’43.256 2.443 / 0.178
10 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 1’43.265 2.452 / 0.009
11 Randy DE PUNIET Power Electronics Aspar 1’43.277 2.464 / 0.012
12 Michele PIRRO San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’43.511 2.698 / 0.234
13 Stefan BRADL LCR Honda MotoGP 1’43.527 2.714 / 0.016
14 Colin EDWARDS NGM Mobile Forward Racing 1’44.909 4.096 / 1.382
15 Danilo PETRUCCI Came IodaRacing Project 1’45.148 4.335 / 0.239
16 Aleix ESPARGARO Power Electronics Aspar 1’45.636 4.823 / 0.488
17 Mattia PASINI Speed Master 1’46.004 5.191 / 0.368
18 Ivan SILVA Avintia Blusens 1’46.271 5.458 / 0.267
James ELLISON Paul Bird Motorsport 1’52.429 11.616 / 6.158
Hector BARBERA Pramac Racing Team
Jorge LORENZO Yamaha Factory Racing

Source: motogp.com

The weather continued to be the main protagonist for the MotoGP race at Jerez this afternoon with rain starting to fall halfway through the Moto2 race and prompting a red flag. Once the MotoGP riders lined up on the grid about an hour later, there was no more rain, but certainly a few damp patches on the track again. Regardless of that all riders opted for the slick tyres as it was declared a dry race.

Álvaro got off to a decent start, staying in 8th position throughout the first few laps but sticking with a large group up to first place, with lots of passes and re-passes delighting the crowd. After about a third of race distance the positions started to settle in, Casey Stoner taking over at the front and trying to shake off Jorge Lorenzo while Álvaro had passed Stefan Bradl for 7th and afterwards closed in on Nicky Hayden for 6th position.

He remained in that position until the finish line, looking to possibly close in on Andrea Dovizioso in front of him, but finally completing a rather lonely race with big gaps towards Dovizioso in front and Hayden and Bradl behind him. He did keep the gap to Dovizioso steady and posted very similar laptimes for the second half of the race, but the large gap didn’t allow for a possible fight for 5th place.

However, 6th place is another solid result for Álvaro after struggling somewhat with the difficult weather conditions at Jerez and with the race also under the constant threat of further rain, unsettling riders and teams a little bit.

The next race will take place at Estoril next weekend. Alvaro had considerably success at the circuit in the past, scoring three wins in the 125cc and 250cc class at the Portuguese track.

Pos. Rider Team Time/Gap
1 Casey STONER Repsol Honda Team 45’33.897
2 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha Factory Racing +0.947
3 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team +2.063
4 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 +2.465
5 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Monster Yamaha Tech 3 +18.100
6 Alvaro BAUTISTA San Carlo Honda Gresini +21.395
7 Stefan BRADL LCR Honda MotoGP +28.637
8 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team +28.869
9 Valentino ROSSI Ducati Team +34.852
10 Hector BARBERA Pramac Racing Team +35.103
11 Ben SPIES Yamaha Factory Racing +38.041
12 Aleix ESPARGARO Power Electronics Aspar +1’12.728
13 Danilo PETRUCCI Came IodaRacing Project +1’18.669
14 Mattia PASINI Speed Master +1’29.142
15 Ivan SILVA Avintia Blusens +1’32.478
16 Colin EDWARDS NGM Mobile Forward Racing +1’40.577
17 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 1 Lap

Not Classified
Randy DE PUNIET Power Electronics Aspar 2 Laps
James ELLISON Paul Bird Motorsport 3 Laps
Michele PIRRO San Carlo Honda Gresini 9 Laps

Not Starting
Yonny HERNANDEZ Avintia Blusens 0 Lap

More rain arrived at the Jerez circuit overnight but stopped in time for the three warmup sessions to start on Sunday morning. Even after both the Moto3 and Moto2 class had finished their sessions, the track was still very damp as the MotoGP riders went out and with some dangerous wet patches at various points around the circuit.

Dani Pedrosa was again the fastest man on track in these conditions, but laptimes naturally being far off what was possible in qualifying yesterday. Álvaro had a dismal session, finishing the warmup in 20th position which was last of all riders since Casey Stoner did not post a lap. Álvaro didn’t look comfortable on his Honda RC213V at any moment and didn’t seem to be able to improve his laptime at all. Warmup certainly is not the place to take unnecessary risks and his warmup crash in Qatar as well as his crash in FP3 yesterday will have made him more cautious as well. But he didn’t appear to be very confident in the mixed conditions all weekend, so he’ll surely be hoping for a dry race later today.

The chances for that are not very good, light drizzle being forecast for all three races, but still with a lot of uncertainty.

Pos. Rider Team Time Gap 1st/Prev.
1 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1’50.860
2 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1’51.340 0.480 / 0.480
3 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’51.477 0.617 / 0.137
4 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha Factory Racing 1’51.983 1.123 / 0.506
5 Valentino ROSSI Ducati Team 1’52.061 1.201 / 0.078
6 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 1’52.368 1.508 / 0.307
7 Ben SPIES Yamaha Factory Racing 1’52.392 1.532 / 0.024
8 Hector BARBERA Pramac Racing Team 1’52.491 1.631 / 0.099
9 Stefan BRADL LCR Honda MotoGP 1’52.711 1.851 / 0.220
10 Aleix ESPARGARO Power Electronics Aspar 1’52.968 2.108 / 0.257
11 Michele PIRRO San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’53.074 2.214 / 0.106
12 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’53.145 2.285 / 0.071
13 Mattia PASINI Speed Master 1’53.455 2.595 / 0.310
14 Ivan SILVA Avintia Blusens 1’53.534 2.674 / 0.079
15 Danilo PETRUCCI Came IodaRacing Project 1’53.820 2.960 / 0.286
16 Yonny HERNANDEZ Avintia Blusens 1’54.074 3.214 / 0.254
17 Colin EDWARDS NGM Mobile Forward Racing 1’54.483 3.623 / 0.409
18 Randy DE PUNIET Power Electronics Aspar 1’55.241 4.381 / 0.758
19 James ELLISON Paul Bird Motorsport 1’55.322 4.462 / 0.081
20 Alvaro BAUTISTA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’55.399 4.539 / 0.077
Casey STONER Repsol Honda Team

After three practice sessions in wet or partly wet conditions, the qualifying for the MotoGP class took place in almost dry conditions at Jerez this afternoon, making the right timing of pushing for a fast lap looking crucial for a good grid position.

The track started drying up throughout the Moto3 qualifying session before the MotoGP bikes went out, already using slick tyres from the start. But big clouds hanging over the track threatened with more rain, so already in the first half of the session most riders pushed hard for a good lap in case of wet conditions later on.

Álvaro made a great start to the qualifying, using the frenzy well and staying within the top five and even taking over at the front a couple of times as well. When the first rain drops appeared halfway through the session he was sitting in fifth position and very close to the top.

Despite the dark clouds the rain didn’t get much heavier than a few drops and the riders started to push again hard in the second part of the qualifying to improve their laptimes, including Álvaro who rode quicker but wasn’t able to move up in the standings until the final minutes when he moved back up to finish in 8th position, starting tomorrow’s race from the middle of the third row.

Home heroes Lorenzo and Pedrosa battled out the pole position among them, going a second faster than the rest and giving the fans something to cheer about. But uncertainty about the weather conditions could make the grid positions mean almost nothing for the race tomorrow which looks very likely to be in wet or mixed conditions.

Pos. Rider Team Time Gap 1st/Prev.
1 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha Factory Racing 1’39.532
2 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1’39.667 0.135 / 0.135
3 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1’40.563 1.031 / 0.896
4 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’40.570 1.038 / 0.007
5 Casey STONER Repsol Honda Team 1’40.577 1.045 / 0.007
6 Ben SPIES Yamaha Factory Racing 1’41.090 1.558 / 0.513
7 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’41.180 1.648 / 0.090
8 Alvaro BAUTISTA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’41.447 1.915 / 0.267
9 Stefan BRADL LCR Honda MotoGP 1’41.550 2.018 / 0.103
10 Randy DE PUNIET Power Electronics Aspar 1’41.700 2.168 / 0.150
11 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 1’41.724 2.192 / 0.024
12 Hector BARBERA Pramac Racing Team 1’41.871 2.339 / 0.147
13 Valentino ROSSI Ducati Team 1’42.961 3.429 / 1.090
14 Aleix ESPARGARO Power Electronics Aspar 1’43.135 3.603 / 0.174
15 Michele PIRRO San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’43.363 3.831 / 0.228
16 Mattia PASINI Speed Master 1’44.308 4.776 / 0.945
17 Yonny HERNANDEZ Avintia Blusens 1’44.467 4.935 / 0.159
18 Danilo PETRUCCI Came IodaRacing Project 1’44.645 5.113 / 0.178
19 Ivan SILVA Avintia Blusens 1’44.717 5.185 / 0.072
20 James ELLISON Paul Bird Motorsport 1’45.724 6.192 / 1.007
21 Colin EDWARDS NGM Mobile Forward Racing 1’46.200 6.668 / 0.476

Conditions were even worse this morning for the third and final free practice session of the MotoGP class than they were yesterday, with more rain coming down and colder temperatures.

Regardless, most riders managed to improve their laptimes compared to yesterday before the halfway stage when the continuous rain picked up again a bit stronger and created several puddles on the track, the standing water making it increasingly dangerous for the riders and nearly impossible to improve their laptimes, the top ten positions staying the same until the end.

However, all riders went out for the entire session, using the conditions to test out their settings for a potential wet race and especially having a look at the tyre degradation over long distance.

The worse conditions saw one small crash from Álvaro who lost grip when entering the first corner, the cameras picking up a tremendous amount of bumping from the bike when he braked which robbed him of the necessary grip. Fortunately he walked away unscathed, the bike sliding into the airfence, but he decided to sit out the final minutes of the session, finishing FP3 down in 15th position after being relegated a place while being in the box.

Pos. Rider Team Time Gap 1st/Prev.
1 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1’50.121
2 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha Factory Racing 1’50.232 0.111 / 0.111
3 Casey STONER Repsol Honda Team 1’50.455 0.334 / 0.223
4 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1’50.495 0.374 / 0.040
5 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’50.692 0.571 / 0.197
6 Valentino ROSSI Ducati Team 1’51.601 1.480 / 0.909
7 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’51.615 1.494 / 0.014
8 Stefan BRADL LCR Honda MotoGP 1’51.661 1.540 / 0.046
9 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 1’51.700 1.579 / 0.039
10 Randy DE PUNIET Power Electronics Aspar 1’51.972 1.851 / 0.272
11 Ben SPIES Yamaha Factory Racing 1’52.228 2.107 / 0.256
12 Hector BARBERA Pramac Racing Team 1’52.676 2.555 / 0.448
13 Yonny HERNANDEZ Avintia Blusens 1’52.730 2.609 / 0.054
14 Mattia PASINI Speed Master 1’52.754 2.633 / 0.024
15 Alvaro BAUTISTA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’52.756 2.635 / 0.002
16 Michele PIRRO San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’53.489 3.368 / 0.733
17 Colin EDWARDS NGM Mobile Forward Racing 1’53.583 3.462 / 0.094
18 Danilo PETRUCCI Came IodaRacing Project 1’53.595 3.474 / 0.012
19 James ELLISON Paul Bird Motorsport 1’53.612 3.491 / 0.017
20 Aleix ESPARGARO Power Electronics Aspar 1’53.820 3.699 / 0.208
21 Ivan SILVA Avintia Blusens 1’54.618 4.497 / 0.798