Estoril, 14 September: Honda LCR rider Carlos Checa finished twelfth fastest overall in today’s free practice for the Portuguese Grand Prix in warm and sunny conditions. Checa’s primary focus was tyre testing, carrying on the work with Michelin from last week’s Misano test, especially with the latest specification front tyres.

Despite two harmless falls, one in the morning and one this afternoon at turn six, Checa was happy with the progress in advance of Sunday’s Portuguese Grand Prix. Checa’s best lap was just 0.7s behind the fastest time posted by Casey Stoner. In the morning session Checa was an impressive fifth fastest.

CHECA: Twelfth overall - 1’38.669

CHECA: “Today was mainly about tyre testing, both front and rear, and we have made positive progress following the Misano test last week. Even though I crashed this afternoon, the bonus is that we now have a clear direction for our front tyre choice for the race. Michelin also had a better rear tyre option here which worked well today. We have some more tests to run tomorrow and also we need to fine tune the front set-up, but overall I am satisfied with our work today.”

In practice for the 250cc grand prix, Eugene Laverty spent much of today’s free practice coming to grips with the 4.18 km Estoril circuit which he is racing at for the first time.

LAVERTY: “We tried a new specification front fork this morning but it did not improve the bike so I went back the standard set-up this afternoon. We lost some time because of that, and also from some front tyre chatter this afternoon, but we now have a set-up direction for the race. I like the track but it is quite bumpy on corner entry.”