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avant-match
Race
Follow the Portugal Grand Prix live. This MotoGP race starts at 14:00 on 6 May 2012. Find race results, calendar, standings, scores and all of this season’s MotoGP races.
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Highlights
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@joaopintosousa via Twitter: "Barring any issues with the arm pump, this is Stoner's race." Came in a little late, but you were correct, sir.
Stoner moves into the world championship lead for the first time.
The rest of the top 10: Dovizioso, Crutchlow, Bautista, Rossi, Spies, Bradl, Barbera.
Lorenzo and Pedrosa close out the podium.
CASEY STONER WINS THE PORTUGUESE GP!
The final lap - Stoner will not be caught barring an accident. Rossi, who has won five times at Estoril, on his own in seventh. He qualified ninth, his best of the season so far.
Pedrosa steady in third but not looking like challenging the front two. Spies is past Bradl.
Stoner looking comfortable at the front. Can he complete his set of victories at current GP circuits?
Abraham is now out. Spies looking to pass Bradl for eighth.
Stoner getting closer now and 0.5s ahead. Has he been hanging back, waiting to push it on the last laps? Abraham has rejoined at the back - I'm surprised the bike was in a condition to carry on. He was deep into the gravel.
Ellison has retired now from last spot. Sixteen riders left on track. And Abraham high-sides it from 12th! The bike misses him, thankfully.
Lorenzo 0.3s behind with Pedrosa 0.75s further back. Cal is half a second down on Dovi. Not much happening.
Can 2010 champion Lorenzo find a way past Stoner, champ in 2007 and 2011?
Pedrosa falling away slightly as Lorenzo struggles to find a gap to pass Stoner. The latter really pushing it, going over the nearside kerb while leaning over... risky.
The other Briton, James Ellison, is 17th and last after those three retirements on the Paul Bird bike.
Yonny Hernandez crashes the other Avintia Blusens bike into the gravel. He is okay but the bike is in pieces!
Stoner's pit board showing 0.4s back to Lorenzo. Marc Marquez denied Pol Espargaro victory as the Moto2 race came down to a thrilling last-lap conclusion.
Pedrosa, who can take a 100th GP podium today, eyeing the situation as Lorenzo is held up slightly. Only six other riders in the 64-year history of GP racing have reached that milestone.
American Spies up to eighth past Stefan Bradl. A lovely move at turn six up the inside.
Lorenzo right up behind Stoner and threatening to put a move on him. Pedrosa staying with them.
At the back, Ivan Silva comes into the pits and is out of the race. He is suffering from a crash yesterday. And Mattia Pasini leans his Speed Master Aprilia over too far and slides out from 15th.
But back fights Lorenzo! 0.4s the gap now. Rossi still seventh while on the sister Ducati Nicky Hayden is 11th behind Hector Barbera.
Stoner gains a couple of tenths on his rival as he looks for that maiden win here. Lorenzo leads the riders' table from the Aussie after two races.
The gap from first to second is 0.671s as they cross the line. Estoril is the only current circuit at which Stoner has not taken a victory in the MotoGP class.
Stoner pushes it right out to the kerb and wobbles the bike, but he keeps it well under control. Good management.
The lead is under a second now. Crutchlow right up on Dovi, who fends him off. Dovi has only once failed to finish in the top five in the last 17 races, starting with a fourth place finish in Portugal last year.
Lorenzo has fought back to a second or so behind Stoner. Pedrosa just behind him. Dovi and Cal having a battle three seconds further back.
Spies having a 'mare and is now ninth. At Estoril in the past he has crashed out - on the sighting lap in 2010! - and crashed last year after suffering technical problems.
Dovizioso is past Crutchlow for fourth while Spies has given up a spot to Bautista.
Stoner pulling away at the front. Almost two seconds clear of Yamaha Spaniard Lorenzo with Pedrosa on the other Repsol Honda following.
Spies runs well wide and loses a couple of places! He is able to rejoin in sixth. Rossi has lost that place again.
At the end of the first lap, the order is: Stoner, Lorenzo, Spies, Crutchlow, Andrea Dovizioso, Alvaro Bautista, Valentino Rossi. And Rossi comes through to take seventh spot.
Stoner at the front then with Lorenzo up into second ahead of Pedrosa and Spies. Lorenzo has a wobble on the kerb but is okay.
OFF WE GO! Pedrosa away well, as Lorenzo looks for a way around him... and he finds it. Pedrosa was past Stoner briefly but was edged out of the battle.
The riders begin their warm-up lap in front of 48,951 spectators. Some crowd!
What do you expect from today's race?
This is the second time in 2012 that Crutchlow has qualified on the front row of the grid. He is looking to become the first British rider to finish in the top four at the opening three premier-class GP races of the year since Barry Sheene won the first three races in 1976.
The sun is out and the riders are psyching themselves up on the grid. Ben Spies, fifth on the grid behind Lorenzo, enjoying a bit of Metallica. If enjoying is the right word.
Pedrosa won this race last year - and it was a dramatic one to end Jorge Lorenzo's run here.
It is the first time the Australian has started on pole since the final race of last year at Valencia.
Casey Stoner starts on pole for the MotoGP race in Estoril ahead of Dani Pedrosa and Briton Cal Crutchlow.