Marco Simoncelli finished quickest in both Friday practice sessions for this weekend's Portuguese Grand Prix at Jerez.
Italian makes strong start to the weekend at Estoril
Marco Simoncelli finished quickest in both Friday practice sessions for this weekend's Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril.
The San Carlo Honda Gresini rider, who crashed out while leading the previous MotoGP race in Jerez, set a fastest time of 1 minute 37.663 seconds in the second session.
Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo was 0.061s adrift on his Yamaha in second place while Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa was only 0.003s further back in third.
Casey Stoner was second quickest in practice one, while team-mate Pedrosa was third ahead of Lorenzo.
The Ducati of Valentino Rossi was fifth fastest in first practice and finished the second session in fourth place, over four tenths down on fellow Italian Simoncelli.
Alvaro Bautista of Rizla Suzuki returned to action just over a month after breaking his thigh bone in Qatar.
The Spaniard, who suffered the injury in practice at the first race of the season, was slowest in both sessions.
