Casey Stoner - Photo Credit: Repsol Honda
Casey Stoner feels comfortable with the position he finds himself in after Friday practice at Estoril. The World Champion set the pace in the dry second session and although he wasn't totally satisfied with the Honda RC213V, he expects to be competitive in qualifying.
“We did a few laps this morning to try and understand the bike, to make sure everything was working and like Jerez we wanted to see where the wet patches were on the track. Then this afternoon, unfortunately there were still areas of the track that hadn’t dried out but we managed to get some good dry time, the bike seems to be working ok at this point and we have a fairly good idea of what we need to do tomorrow”
Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa was fourth fastest and agreed with his compatriot Jorge Lorenzo that the newly laid asphalt wasn't giving up as much grip as before. The Spaniard is hoping for a dry qualifying session and expects to be right in the mix if that happens.
“It was quite similar to Jerez, in the first session we were almost unable to ride and in the afternoon it was difficult because the track conditions were poor, it was very slippery, we had no grip in the front or rear and it was kind of hard to get feedback from the bike because the tyres were just sliding. Water is holding on the new asphalt, so it’s necessary to change the line. It would be good if it doesn’t rain anymore and if they could dry this area up in some way because in the last corner especially, it’s very damp. I hope the track gets better tomorrow on the grip level, so we can start working hard on the suspension. As long as the track improves, the bike will do also”.
