This morning's first free practice had taken place on a track still partially wet from overnight rain and saw a spectacular highside for
Valentino Rossi.
The Italian was unharmed and went on to finish the session in second place, some 0.699secs behind world champion
Casey Stoner, as
Bridgestone riders took the top five positions.
With lap times over ten seconds off the ultimate pace, and track conditions continuing to improve, the first session times were rendered irrelevant as the afternoon hour began in fully dry - if blustery - conditions.
But the Estoril circuit soon proved itself to be a threat wet or dry, with Stoner falling on his out lap - after losing the front on the exit of the ultra-tight chicane -
James Toseland suffering a similar incident and fellow rookie
Alex de Angelis being flicked off at much higher speed.
Pedrosa, only 16th this morning, put his Repsol Honda on top just before the halfway stage of the afternoon session - and returned to P1 in the final minute, after having been replaced at the top by
Colin Edwards and then fellow M1 rider Rossi.
The Italian was a mere 0.040secs slower than Pedrosa, and the only Bridgestone rider in the top six, with Edwards less than a tenth behind the Fiat Yamaha star after an impressive debut with the pneumatic-valve M1 engine.
Fourth fastest and just 0.181secs from the top was 2007 Estoril pole sitter
Nicky Hayden, as he and Pedrosa proved that their valve-spring RCVs are still a match for the pneumatic machines, while rookie
Jorge Lorenzo - on pole for his first two
MotoGP races - was fifth after his first day at Estoril with a MotoGP machine.
Fellow 250GP graduate
Andrea Dovizioso will be pleased with sixth for JiR Team Scot, while Stoner - whose spare Desmosedici was bucking wildly early in the session - was forced to settle for seventh, 0.695secs from the top.
