Friday, 11th April 2008

Valentino Rossi finished the opening day of practice for the Portuguese Grand Prix a strong second fastest in both wet and dry conditions - despite a spectacular morning highside.

Friday morning marked only the second real chance for Rossi and his crew to try Bridgestone's wet-weather tyres and the Italian's accident came mid-way through the hour - when his rear tyre spun-up before gripping and spitting the Italian over the handlebars and down the road.

Rossi, the most successful rider in MotoGP history at Estoril, was fortunately unhurt and able to continue on his second bike, finishing second and quite pleased with his wet-weather pace.

The dry afternoon hour was less complicated and Rossi was present at the sharp end throughout, eventually finishing just 0.040secs behind Jerez winner and MotoGP Wold Championship leader Dani Pedrosa.

Rossi was the sole Bridgestone rider in a Michelin-dominated top six, in direct contrast to the wet morning session where Japanese rubber reigned supreme.

"I am happy about today's result," declared Rossi, edging ever closer to his first Bridgestone victory. "To be second in both sessions, in the wet and the dry, is not bad at all and the conditions were quite difficult!

"My Bridgestone tyres in the wet worked very well and I had a great feeling, so I'm really happy about this. Maybe I had a bit too much feeling in fact because I was pushing a little bit too hard when I fell! It was quite a big crash and I hit the ground hard but fortunately I am fine and I just have a bit of pain in my hip. After that with my second bike I was able to go even faster so this made me very happy.

"This afternoon was good again, even if the track wasn't perfect and the wind was tricky, but this is Estoril and we know that the weather can always change from minute to minute so we have to be ready to adapt. Tomorrow we need to keep improving, whatever the weather, and be ready to fight in any conditions! Thanks to my team for working very hard to rebuild my bike, it was a big job!" he added.