Dovizioso takes 250cc pole in Portugal

Kopron Team Scot's Andrea Dovizioso earned pole at the bwin.com Grande Premio de Portugal this afternoon at Estoril, taking advantage of Jorge Lorenzo's inability to improve on the time which had earned him provisional pole yesterday.

Kopron Team Scot's Andrea Dovizioso earned pole at the bwin.com Grande Premio de Portugal this afternoon at Estoril, taking advantage of Jorge Lorenzo's inability to improve on the time which had earned him provisional pole yesterday.

A repeat of his 2006 Portugal victory this weekend for Dovizioso would be the perfect remedy after the massive disappointment of his home race at Misano less than a fortnight ago - and having earned his second pole of the season today the Italian has every chance in Sunday's race.

On the 18th of 21 laps Dovizioso notched a new circuit record, beating the new record set by Lorenzo in QP1 by 0.125s to deliver what could be a crucial psychological blow.

World Champion Lorenzo was in fact sixth in the Saturday afternoon session, but will nonetheless start in second position on the grid as Dovizioso was the only rider to beat his best Friday time.

Meanwhile his compatriot and arch rival Hector Barbera (Team Toth) will start from third, with Red Bull KTM's Mika Kallio completing the front row of the grid for the thirteenth race of the 250cc season.

Further down the timesheet Mika Kallio's KTM colleague Hiroshi Aoyama, Alvaro Bautista (Master Mapfre Aspar), Julian Simon (Repsol Honda) and Bautista's Alex De Angelis (Master Mapfre Aspar) will comprise the second row.