Estoril, 15 September: Honda LCR rider Carlos Checa was robbed of a chance of qualifying on the front row of the grid in today’s qualifying session for the Portuguese Grand Prix. With six minutes remaining Checa was third fastest, behind only Casey Stoner and Valentino Rossi, and looking to improve on his final qualifying run.

But the Spaniard will start from eleventh on the fourth row, after being slowed by traffic and severe rear-end chatter in a final bid to go faster. Despite this setback, Checa is confident in his race set up and latest Michelin tyres for the 28 lap race at Estoril. American rider Nicky Hayden will start from pole position.

CHECA: Eleventh - 1’37.296

CHECA: “Qualifying is always a gamble and that’s the way it was today. I was aiming to improve my time my final run and start up front. But I came across a lot of traffic and also suffered from a lot of chatter at the rear, which is a problem we have on the soft compound qualifying tyres. This is our weak area in qualifying. It’s a shame to start from the fourth row because I feel we have a good race pace with the new tyres and set-up. But I’m optimistic I can get a much better result in the race.”

For the 250cc grand prix Eugene Laverty qualified an impressive 17th in his first appearance at Estoril, his best effort since starting 15th at Donington.

LAVERTY: “I’m happy with my qualifying position and we have made progress this weekend but there is still a big problem under brakes with the rear set-up, the bike is very unstable. And I had a stupid crash at the end of the session over the bumps on entry to the final corner, the front just got away from me.”