In sunny and warm autumn weather, Honda LCR rider Casey Stoner set a sizzling pace in today’s free practice in advance of Sunday’s Portuguese Grand Prix. Riding a Honda RC211V, Stoner posted the fastest time of the day to finish ahead of world championship leader and factory rider Nicky Hayden. Stoner’s best time -- 1’38.218 -- came during an impressive nine lap endurance run in the afternoon session.

Following modifications to the Estoril circuit, Stoner’s time stands as a new, unofficial lap record with times from 2005 no longer valid. Refreshed by a two week break in Australia, Stoner is taking a “no pressure” approach to the final two races of the season, here at Estoril and in two weeks at the Valencia Grand Prix.

“Today’s performance by both Casey and the team provides a very good starting point for the next two days. The important point was that we worked very hard with both bikes, to quickly find a good set-up, although there are some small things to improve. Casey was very positive today, and very constant with his lap times -- and Michelin did a very good job with tyres.”

“I’ve taken some of the pressure off myself this weekend, and just concentrating on doing my job and not expecting anything special, and so far things are coming easier than in recent races - I haven’t been happy with those performances. Both the team and I are being very careful with the information on set-up -- we made a mistake in Japan -- and so far everything is going very well. The track was very dirty and slick today, although the new surface has taken away a lot of the bumps that were problem here. So the track is nicer to ride, but the grip is down. ”