With seven hours of track time available and conditions ideal with no sign of forecast rain emerging, Crutchlow and Edwards dedicated the majority of the day on improving the set-up they used during Sunday’s 28-lap race.

Changing handlebar position and modifying the wheelbase of his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1 machine helped Crutchlow produce the performance of the test, the British rider shaving almost two seconds off his best time set when he finished in eighth position in the Portuguese Grand Prix.

The 25-year-old took full advantage of the revised set-up to log a best time of 1.36.850, which secured him a fantastic fourth place on the final timesheets. Only Marco Simoncelli, Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner were able to lap faster than Crutchlow, who completed 71-laps.

Crutchlow and Edwards were also able to give Bridgestone vital feedback and information on two new specification rear tyres designed for the new 1000cc MotoGP class in 2012. Both declared themselves impressed with the improved feedback and edge grip and both set their fastest times of the test on the 2012 tyres.

Cal Crutchlow 4th 1.36.850 – 71 laps
“Today was really positive and I can’t really ask for much more than finishing fourth quickest with only three of the fastest riders in the world in front of me. I was able to lap nearly two seconds faster than I did in the race but I was quietly confident that the changes we planned to make for today would mean I could go a lot faster. Losing so much track time because of the weather at the weekend meant I couldn’t risk taking a gamble on making too many changes for the race. I honestly didn’t expect to break into the 36s but I felt comfortable and even with 25-laps on the same set of tyres I was doing low to mid-37s. I know everyone goes faster in a test but my time today was faster than Dani Pedrosa’s best lap in the race and he won, so my pace bodes well for the future. We moved the handlebars and lengthened the wheelbase and I just felt much more comfortable. The bike was a lot easier to ride and much less aggressive and I was fast throughout the whole day. If I’d had this set-up for the race I’m sure I could have had a battle with Colin, and he was sixth, so that’s really encouraging. I can’t wait for Le Mans now. It is the home race for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team and today’s result has given me a lot of confidence that I can be competitive again on another track I have to learn from scratch.”

Source: Team Tech3

Scott was left cursing his bad luck and contemplating what might have been as he produced his best performance of the season in the early stages of the 26-lap race. He made an aggressive start and executed some thrilling overtaking moves to gain six places on the opening lap to claim seventh and begin his pursuit of the podium.

Scott was comfortably holding seventh place and saving his tyres for a sustained attack in the second half of the race. But the British rider was the innocent victim of a mistake in the braking zone at Turn 6 on the eighth lap by reigning 125cc World Champion Marc Marquez. Scott was able to re-join the race down in 35th position but fought his way back to 25th at the chequered flag.

Scott Redding #45 Race Position 25th
“To say I’m disappointed is an understatement because for the first time all year I felt really confident on the bike. We gambled on running a new clutch setting for the race and it felt great, even though I was still trying to learn the new set-up in the early laps. I wasn’t struggling to stop the bike like I was in qualifying and practice and I’d just settled into a fast and consistent pace and I was pretty happy just to sit where I was on the back of the top six and wait for the race to develop. And the next thing Marquez just slammed into me and there was no way I could save it. The wall was coming up pretty fast so I had to abandon ship. The fairing was damaged but I got back on track and my lap times were at least good enough for the top five. Maybe there was a podium if it wasn’t for Marquez’s stupid move but that’s racing and it was my turn to suffer today. We’ve definitely made progress with the bike and we’re testing Tuesday and Wednesday, so hopefully that will be productive to help me start getting some decent results, beginning in Le Mans at the next race.”

Michael Bartholemy – Team Manager
“It looks like we can’t escape the bad luck that seems to be following us at the moment. One thing I’m convinced about though today is that the mistake of Marquez cost Scott a podium. Even after the crash we could see that Scott had the same speed as the riders at the front, so I’m frustrated to have a podium chance taken away in circumstances like that. I don’t know why Marquez had to do that but it’s disappointing, because all of us were desperate to show that the Marc VDS Racing Team was back and fighting for the podium in 2011. Before the crash Scott was looking very strong and I’m really happy because he seems much happier with the bike now and this means we can be optimistic for the next race in Le Mans. I’m happy with Mika today because he showed a lot of fighting spirit. He fought very hard and he was able to catch and pass de Angelis, who is one of the best riders in Moto2. Unfortunately he made a mistake and crashed at the same corner where Marquez took Scott out, so Turn 6 wasn’t that kind to us today. It would have been good to score some points but I think both of them have made good progress and we can look forward to Le Mans, where we hope our luck will return.”

Source: Marc VDS Racing

Saturday’s winner Brad Binder led from the start as he did 24 hours earlier but this time the 15 year old South African fell on lap 2 as he tried to take advantage of the clear road ahead of him. He remounted but needed repairs at the pits before he could finish the race, which he did but scored no points.

That propels Cup leader Sissis into a 27 point lead over Baldassarri with Binder a further 8 points adrift, tied in 3rd with 14 year old German Philipp Oettl who missed this weekend through injury. Sissis was thrilled with his 3rd podium of the season. “I really enjoyed that, we’d made some changes to the bike after yesterday and it was a lot better but I knew that racing with Brad was not going to be easy. He got another great start and I just tried to go with him. Then he highsided in front of me and that made things a lot easier.”

“I still had Lorenzo on my tail and I knew from my pit board he was right with me. I didn’t want to make any mistakes so I waited till the last few laps to really push and try and get away. I was still expecting him to try and outbrake me so I was covering the inside line on the last few laps. I looked behind after crossing the line and he wasn’t that close,” concluded the speedway star fast becoming an accomplished road racer.

Just as it had been yesterday the battle behind the leaders was the most intense. This time it was even more crucial as it was for the final rostrum place. It was the same players, Alan Techer, Ivo Lopes, Joakim Niemi and Xavi Pinsach with the position changing at every corner. Portuguese 14 year old Lopes highsided out of the action on lap 14 of the 16.

That left a trio fighting for 3rd and on the final lap Finnish 16 year old Niemi made his bid braking for the chicane. He had third for a second but the front tucked and he was down. That took 16 year old Frenchman Techer wide and handed 3rd to Pinsach. “It was a great fight again,” said the Spaniard. “I tried everything to get 3rd and then it just worked out that way. Much better than the way it worked out yesterday,” he said referring to the fact that he had lost 4th on the run in to the line.

Techer was frustrated to lose the 3rd that should probably have been his. “Of course I am disappointed, I thought I had it on the last lap then Joakim came inside, fell and I almost ran into him. Still that is racing, we had another great battle and I got some good points. I’m looking forward to Silverstone.”

Binder was obviously terribly disappointed missing out on a perfect weekend after his pole position and a dominant win on Saturday. “I made a mistake back shifting coming into the corner, I didn’t get it down enough gears. I tried to carry more momentum to keep it going, I didn’t want to change down in the middle of the corner but then the back came around and threw me off. I knew that I’d hurt my finger pretty much right away. I came into the pits to fix the bike and I really wanted to finish the race. The finger was painful but it’s just a small fracture in the little finger on my right hand and I could race tomorrow if I had to.”

With a five week gap to the next races at Silverstone on June 11th and 12th all injured men should be fully fit so there will be 25 Rookies on the grid. For those who don’t want to wait that long for race action the first 4 races of the year can be watched on www.redbullrookiescup.com.

Race 2 Classification

1. Arthur Sissis (AUS) 29 minutes 57.014 seconds
2. Lorenzo Baldassarri (ITA) +0.867
3. Xavier Pinsach (ESP) +13.670
4. Alan Techer (FRA) +14.396
5. Joe Roberts (USA) +25.215
6. Lukas Trautmann (AUT) +25.219
7. Joakim Niemi (FIN) +27.143
8. Aaron Espana (ESP) +28.016
9. James Flitcroft (GBR) +28.787
10. Kevin Argino (ITA) +28.878

“I just put my head down and went as hard as I could from the start,” said Binder. “When I saw the gap was 4 seconds I realised that it was going OK but I wanted to keep pushing and I only eased up right at the end. In fact I almost crashed at the chicane on the last lap when the front tucked but I got away with it.”

Sissis accepted that there was nothing he could do. “I got into second and went as hard as I could but there was no chance of matching Brad today, he was gone. My bike was sliding around quite a lot so the set up can be improved for sure. We’ll have a look at things and see what we can change for tomorrow. I hope we can find something and that I can race with Brad.” Sissis jumps into the Cup points lead, 10 clear of Binder and Philipp Oettl, who misses this weekend following a testing crash that resulted in a broken collarbone.

Baldassarri also hopes that some suspension work will make the difference to his race tomorrow. “I enjoyed the race a lot, I went as hard as I could but I couldn’t race with Brad and Arthur. My bike was moving around a lot, we had so little dry track time and I am new to the Rookies bike so we just didn’t have it well set up. Hopefully we can make some improvement, if we can I think I can race with them tomorrow.”

Though the lead trio became well spread out the fight for 4th could not have been more intense. It was 16 year old Frenchman Alan Techer who snatched the place on the line after Xavi Pinsach, the 14 year old Spaniard ran wide coming out of the last corner and dropped from 4th to 7th. Joakim Niemi, the 16 year old Finn stole 5th ahead of 14 year old Portuguese local hero Ivo Lopes with Aaron España, the 13 year old Spaniard 8th.

España had done a superb job to fight through from 15th on lap one pulling 17 year old Czech Tomas Vavrous with him into a battle for 4th that at the time also included Lukas Trautmann and Andrea Migno. The group split up and Vavrous crashed leaving 15 year old Italian Migno a good 9th ahead of Trautmann, the 15 year old German.

“That was so much fun,” said Pinsach. The bike was really working well and I enjoyed battling with the guys. You can’t break away from a group like that they just have your slipstream. I knew that I had to push hard coming through the last corner. I was as hard as I dare on the throttle and the bike just ran wide, I couldn’t stop it. Never mind, I tried.”

Lopes agreed that it just came down to the last corner. “We had such a fight I could get in front but I couldn’t get away, the other guys were just holding my slipstream all the time. I was pushing so hard on that last lap, coming through the last right the back was sliding, sliding, I just held on to it.”

The second race of the weekend takes place on Sunday with the show starting and 16.50 CET. It can be seen live on www.redbullrookiescup.com.

Race 1 Classification

1. Brad Binder (RSA) 29 minutes 52.963 seconds
2. Arthur Sissis (AUS) +15.929
3. Lorenzo Baldassarri (ITA) +24.667
4. Alan Techer (FRA) +38.011
5. Joakim Niemi (FIN) +38.049
6. Ivo Lopes (POR) +38.141
7. Xavier Pinsach (ESP) +38.211
8. Aaron España (ESP) +38.269
9. Andrea Migno (ITA) +47.632
10. Lukas Trautmann (AUT) +47.691

Having been one of the star performers during free practice, which Scott finished in fourth position overall, the British rider was confident of mounting a strong challenge for a place on the front row of the grid when qualifying commenced under grey and gloomy skies at the Estoril track this afternoon.

Consistently running inside the top five in the opening half of the session, Scott looked poised to claim his best qualifying result of the season, having set a best time of 1.42.653 after only five laps. But the 18-year-old was unable to take full advantage of a new Dunlop rear tyre in a typically frenetic finale and he slipped down the rankings to 13th.

Boosted by his impressive performance in practice though, Scott is supremely confident that he can register his first points of the campaign after a difficult opening two races in Qatar and Jerez.

Scott Redding #45 1.42.563 – 20 laps – 13th position
“Practice had been going so well and I was feeling much more confident with the bike that I was expecting to be a lot higher up the grid than 13th. I felt good at the start of qualifying and was definitely aiming to be on the second row at least because I’ve been able to lap in the top six for the entire weekend. But when I put in a new rear tyre I couldn’t get the same feeling and confidence. I lost edge grip and then I started to push the front towards the end and unfortunately I lost a few places and I’m a bit annoyed about that. I definitely don’t think 13th is a true reflection of my potential but it is always hard in Moto2 to come from the fifth row and fight at the front. We just need to see what the weather will do tomorrow but a top six would be great, though the main focus will be on scoring some points and getting some momentum for the rest of the season.”

Michael Bartholemy – Team Manager
“We were very confident after Scott and Mika had performed so well in practice that both of them would be much higher up the grid. Scott started qualifying very well and was always in the top six like he has been for the whole weekend so far. So when he put in a new rear tyre we were very optimistic that he would be able to keep his place in the top six and start from the first two rows, which is so important in Moto2. It looks like he couldn’t get the same feeling with the new tyre and he was unable to go faster and that’s a pity. Mika was convinced that he could fight for the front row after the impressive speed he’d displayed in practice but unfortunately he was quite a long way off his target. The track conditions were certainly not easy with the track taking such a long time to dry, but we had expected him to be much higher. He was pushing hard to improve and unfortunately crashed but I am sure both of them can finish inside the points. That is our prime goal for tomorrow’s race because we must start scoring points on a consistent basis.”