Marco Simoncelli dominated free practice, but in the end it was reigning champion Jorge Lorenzo who came out on top in this afternoon's MotoGP qualifying in Estoril. Damp conditions and a wet racetrack proved a challenge for all riders on Saturday afternoon, including San Carlo Honda Gresini's Simoncelli who crashed in the last five minutes of qualifying. Simoncelli looked to have pole position locked up until his fall, when reigning MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo registered the fastest laptime at 1:37.161, besting Simoncelli's time of 1:37.294, giving the Factory Yamaha rider his first pole position of the season.
In the post qualifying press conference Simoncelli sited a soft front tire that caused his fall. What followed was a heated debate between Simoncelli and Jorge Lorenzo, who has expressed concern over the Honda pilot's aggressive riding style. Lorenzo made it quite clear that the past was the past, but should Simoncelli cause trouble in future for him, there will be a problem; "It doesn't matter. If nothing happens in the future, it's not a problem for me. But if something happens with you in the future, it will be a problem." explained Lorenzo. Having the two riders start next to one another on Sunday's grid may prove interesting. Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa rounded out the front row of the grid with a time of 1:37.324, despite a recovering shoulder injury. While his shoulder is still quite sore from surgery, Pedrosa intends to finish the race on Sunday.
Another rider who intends to finish Sunday's MotoGP race despite injury is Rizla Suzuki's Alvaro Bautista. We caught up with Bautista following Sunday's qualifying session. Still walking with the support of crutches, Bautista was just happy to be back on the motorcycle, and dropped two seconds off his laptime from Friday's practice sessions. Bautista explained that he was still very sore (he broke his femur 43 days ago) and that he had suffered significant muscle loss in his leg, enough that he still has trouble shifting the motorcycle from side to side, but overall he was simply happy to be back on the motorcycle, "I'm really happy because I can ride." explained Bautista. His goal is to finish Sunday's 28-lap race and continue to improve his health before LeMans on May 13.
Germany's Stefan Bradl set the pole position on a damp track in the Moto2 class with a time of 1:41.591, while Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2) and Julian Simon (Mapfre Aspar Moto2) rounded out the front row.
In 125cc action, Bankia Aspar's Nico Terol continued to set a blistering pace, claiming pole position with a time of 1:46.556, ahead of Intact Racing's Sandro Cortese who registered a 1:47.270. Portugal's Miquel Oliveira (Andalucia Banco Civica) rounded out the front row with a time of 1:47.405.
An update on the Red Bull Rookies Cup action from Friday, a report on the Red Bull Rookies website confirms that 16-year old Austrian rider Deni Cudic narrowly missed being struck by a lightening bolt by only 2 meters during Friday's initial qualifying session. Cudic crashed and lost consciousness. He regained consciousness but was taken to hospital in Lisbon for further inspection. 15 year-old Arthus Sissis and 17 year-old Thomas Vavrous also blacked out from the lightening strike; they were riding close to Cudic at the time. South African rider Brad Binder won Saturday's Red Bull Rookies race, while Sissis took second place. Vavrous DNF'd and Cudic did not start Saturday's race.
