Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi have given their support to the decision that was made to cancel today’s qualifying session at Estoril for the MotoGP of Portugal – they will both start tomorrow’s race from the front row, so maybe opinion would have been different if the grid positions weren’t as good.

Jorge Lorenzo – Position: 1st Time: 1’48.522 Laps: 39
“It was a pity about this today because we needed a bit more time in the very wet conditions to try to improve our setting more, but there was no way we could have ridden this afternoon. This morning I felt quite good but at the end I was pushing too hard, I thought the other riders were closer to my time and I just went a step too far and crashed. I was lucky, my airbag inflated and I didn’t hurt myself. Now we have to wait and see how the weather is and we especially hope that warm-up is the same conditions as the race, it will be very, very difficult if not. Today I became the Spanish rider with the most poles of all time, joint with Aspar, and this is a great honour for me, I feel very proud.”

Valentino Rossi – Position: 3rd Time: 1’48.883 Laps: 46
“It’s a real disappointment about today because we had some things we wanted to try, but in the end the rain was just too much and it was too dangerous. It really was impossible to ride this afternoon! In the wet I have a good setting, even if we could have improved a bit this afternoon, but I am happy about the balance of my bike. Now we just have to wait for the conditions tomorrow. We are prepared for the wet; if it’s dry it could be interesting! If it’s dry from the morning and it’s possible to have the warm-up in the dry then it will be okay to have a dry race, but if warm-up is wet and then the race is dry….honestly it’s better not like this! We will just have to wait and see and at least we’re on the front row.”

Wilco Zeelenberg – Team Manager
“Our seventh pole of the season, but without actually qualifying! Jorge had quite a big crash this morning when he was pushing quite hard and lost the rear, but he is fine and this is all that matters. We wanted to improve our pace in the wet conditions a bit more; when it’s drying up we’re okay but when it’s really wet we’re struggling a bit with the rear feeling, so we need to work on this tomorrow morning if possible. Of course we don’t know how the weather will be so we will just have to wait and see.”

Davide Brivio – Team Manager
“A strange weekend and a difficult one with the weather. So far, in the two sessions we’ve had, we’ve been quite good and it seems our wet setting is okay. It’s a pity because we had some things to check today to try to improve a bit but it was impossible. We will have to wait for tomorrow. If the race is wet we are prepared, if it’s dry it’s going to be a big gamble.”

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