Friday, 11th April 2008

Gilera rider takes provisional pole at Estoril.

Having been robbed of what looked like being his first 250GP victory when he hit the back of a suddenly-slowing Alvaro Bautista on the last lap at Jerez, Marco Simoncelli put the disappointment behind him with provisional pole at Estoril on Friday.

Alex Debon led much of the session, but was demoted in the closing stages before fighting back up to second place on his very last lap - just 0.047secs behind Simoncelli's Gilera on the overnight grid.

Mika Kallio, who inherited victory at Jerez, was a close third for KTM with Bautista completing the provisional front row on his Aspar-run factory Aprilia.

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First qualifying - Estoril:

1. Simoncelli (Gilera)
2. Debon (Aprilia) +0.047secs
3. Kallio (KTM) +0.166secs
4. Bautista (Aprilia) +0.376secs
5. Pasini (Aprilia) +0.377secs
6. Simon (KTM) +0.762secs
7. Barbera (Aprilia) +0.933secs
8. Aoyama (KTM) +1.118secs
9. Luthi (Aprilia) +1.165secs
10. Wilairot (Honda) +1.327secs

20. Laverty (Aprilia) +3.314secs

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