Friday, 11th April 2008

Colin Edwards took full advantage of his newly updated Tech 3 Yamaha to clock the third fastest Friday practice time at Estoril - just 0.125secs from fastest man Dani Pedrosa.

Riding with the pneumatic-valve YZR-M1 engine for the first times, Edwards shrugged off a disappointing morning session run in rapidly changing wet/dry conditions to figure prominently throughout this afternoon's wind affected but dry session.

Having climbed to the top of the timesheets early in the session, Edwards never dropped outside of the top three as he enjoyed the extra acceleration and top speed from the latest powerplant.

"The new engine is phenomenal. It is so good and I'm so happy," said the Texan, looking to collect his third front row grid position in as many attempts on Saturday. "With the old engine when you went from third to sixth gear it didn't really go anywhere. Whereas now, every time you shift a gear it feels like it's building more steam.

"I got behind Valentino and for the first time I can remember I was able to stick with him on the straight. Normally he'd just get smaller as he disappeared into the distance. We have been lacking three-tenths at a track like this with a long straight, and now we have it in hand and it feels good.

"So I'm really, really happy and thanks to Yamaha because it is a big improvement. I've done some pretty consistent runs on used tyres but I always go good at this track. I feel comfortable and the bike and engine feel fantastic," he enthused.

Rookie team-mate James Toseland also has the new engine, but needs to learn the technical Estoril layout before he can get the most from it. The double World Superbike champion finished Friday in 13th place, 1.5secs from Pedrosa, despite a low speed tumble on his first lap of the afternoon.

"It is quite a difficult track just on the basis that you have got such tight corners, particularly at the end of the high-speed [main] straight where you have to get the braking point for the slow first corner dead right," explained the Briton, "Then there's the tricky chicane, which you just have to ride round and round to get the hang of it.