Barberá stays in front of 250cc rivals

The form rider in the 250cc class at present Héctor Barberá (Pepe World Team) was again fastest in FP2 in Portugal before lunch on Saturday.

Héctor Barberá (Pepe World Team) will go in search of his fourth pole position of the season this afternoon at Estoril after taking victory last time out in Misano and running quickest in both free practice sessions in the 250cc category in Portugal thus far this weekend.

After topping the Friday timesheet by more than half a second the Spaniard was quickest by a much tighter margin in this session, but he still has a psychological advantage over his main rivals. Barberá was just 0.034s ahead of surprise package Ratthapark Wilairot (Thai Honda PTT SAG) in second place, with Mike di Meglio (Mapfre Aspar) a close third.

Title chaser Álvaro Bautista (Mapfre Aspar Team) and championship leader Hiroshi Aoyama (Scot Racing Team) were fourth and sixth respectively, sandwiching Alex Debon (Aeropuerto-Castello-Blusens) in fifth.

Mattia Pasini undertook his first laps with new set-up Team Globalgest, working with mechanics from Team Toth (his former team) and with technical support from the Emmi-Caffe Latte team of Daniel Epp. The Italian was ninth fastest overall.