Rossi and Gibernau close in practice

Valentino Rossi and Sete Gibernau have started their battle for the top spot early, finishing just 0.46 seconds apart in the first practice session for round 11 of the MotoGP world championship in Estoril.

Rossi waited until the last minute to take his factory Honda RCV to a 1:40.101 lap just beating Gibernau’s RCV to the top spot for the first session.

Fortuna Yamaha rider Carlos Checa was the third fastest on 1:40.682 with Ducati’s Loris Capirossi taking the fourth spot on the Desmosedici just 0.2 seconds behind.

Tohru Ukawa beat Camel Honda team-mate Max Biaggi to the fifth fastest time with a 1:41.000 lap with Yamaha rider Marco Melandri seventh fastest and Troy Bayliss eighth on the second Ducati.

In their first time out on the newly revised four-stroke bikes WCM riders Chris Burns and David De Gea showed they still have a long way to go before the bike is competitive, finishing the session in the last two places – over five seconds down on Rossi.

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