Red Bull KTM 250 star Mika Kallio battled to a front row position for tomorrow's Portuguese Grand Prix, and is now aiming to add another podium finish to his recent string of successes.

The 25-year-old Finn, winner of the last round in Spain two weeks ago, had hoped for even better than fourth place in Saturday's final qualifying, but ran out of time in the evaluation of different set-up options for the new KTM chassis.

Kallio's Japanese team-mate Hiroshi Aoyama secured a second-row start with sixth place, and shares Kallio's optimism for the race, provided the team is able to make some more changes to the bike, planned for Sunday's warm-up session.

Spanish Repsol KTM 250rider Julian Simon, who held an impressive sixth place in Friday's first qualifying, suffered two falls in this morning's free practice session. He finished in eleventh place. Simon remains confident for the race saying his overall feel for the bike continues to improve.

"A front row position is certainly not a bad practice result, but after yesterday's good start, where we seemed to be fast and consistent straight away, I honestly expected a bit more than fourth place. But we had a small technical problem with the bike this morning, which cost us valuable time and the opportunity to come up with another set-up.

With the setting we have now, I trail my fastest competitors by about half a second per lap, and I simply can't push any more without risking a crash. But on normal race tyres tomorrow, the gap to the fastest guys will be less obvious.

Even though we didn't quite get to where we wanted to be in practice, I am still very confident for the race. With a little luck, I might even be able to fight for victory again!"

"From this morning to this afternoon, we changed the set-up of my bike completely, and I managed to improve by 1.3 seconds, which is good. The feeling for the bike has certainly improved, but we still are not running at a 100 per cent of our possibilities, and the other guys have improved as well.

We will try a few more things in the warm-up tomorrow morning, but nothing too radical, because we don't want to risk what we've achieved so far. More than anything, I hope for a good start like two weeks ago in Jerez!"

"Despite the tricky weather conditions yesterday, we found a good set-up for the bike and were competitive straight away. But today, we ran into difficulties. I crashed twice this morning, and when we mounted a soft tyre compound for a good qualification time this afternoon, I felt that I was very close to crashing again.

I had a couple of nasty slides and was forced to back off. Now I am eleventh on the grid, but this doesn't reflect our real potential - with a good start, I should be able to fight within the front runners!"

"Mika is fast, but as soon as he tries to push even harder in order to keep the pace of the fastest Aprilia riders, he runs into trouble. There is no problem with our bike, we just have to face the fact that we've arrived here with no previous data for our new chassis, and that we would have needed more dry track time to find the best possible set-up.

We don't really know how tyre wear will affect us over the race distance, either. But I am full of confidence in Mika - if there is a chance, he will push for victory, and if he has to settle for safe points, he will do that without taking unnecessary risks!"

1. Marco Simoncelli, Italy, Gilera

2. Alvaro Bautista, Spain, Aprilia

3. Mattia Pasini, Italy, Aprilia

4. Mika Kallio, Finland, KTM

6. Hiroshi Aoyama, Japan, KTM

11. Julian Simon, Spain, KTM

Japanese rider Tomoyoshi Koyama of the Team ISPA KTM Aran was the fastest KTM on the Estoril racing circuit during qualifying for Sunday's Grand Prix, the third of the current season.

Koyama was eleventh fastest in the second qualifying and now look like he will be able to put a disappointing start to the season behind him. Koyama's result is proof that a lot of extra work on chassis and suspension settings has finally paid off.

The diminutive Japanese, who rode last season in the Red Bull KTM Factory Team held a strong fifth place in Friday's first qualifying session. Even though he was pushed back in the order during the dying moments of Saturday's final practice he is determined to turn the race on one of his favourite circuits to success.

Tomoyoshi Koyama (ISPA KTM Aran 125 - Eleventh in 1.46.448)

"We've tried to look at what slowed us in the first races of the season and came up with a new chassis set-up that helps me a lot. I was fast yesterday, even though I eventually got onto a wet spot on the track and crashed. Today my feeling with the bike has improved even more.

With just a little bit of extra top end power, I could have achieved a front row starting position. But never mind, I really look forward to the race - Estoril is one of my favourite circuits, I have done well here in the past and I hope to have a good race tomorrow!"

Randy Krummenacher is home in Switzerland and is recovering well from his emergency surgery for a ruptured spleen that was carried out at the time of the Spanish Grand Prix two weeks ago.

The Swiss teenager incurred the injury during a mountain bike accident while back home in between the Qatar and the Spanish GPs. He will start with some light and supervised fitness training in the Red Bull training centre in the Austrian town of Fuschl next week.

1. Simone Corsi, Italy, Aprilia

2. Steview Bonsey, USA, Aprilia

3. Nicolas Terol, Spain, Aprilia

4. Danny Webb, Britain, Britain, Aprilia

11. Tomoyoshi Koyama, Japan, ISPA KTM Aran 125

14. Pablo Nieto, Spain, Onde 2000 KTM

16. Raffaele de Rosa, Italy, Onde 2000 KTM

18. Esteve Rabat, Spain, Repsol KTM 125 cc

26. Marc Marquez, Spain, Repsol KTM 125 cc

28 Lorenzo Zanetti, Italy, ISPA KTM Aran 125

Thirteen-year old Daijiro Hiura rode to victory from pole to checkered flag on the Estoril circuit on Saturday in the Red Bull Rookies Cup 2008.

But three riders charged the finish line together with the young Japanese triumphing over JD Beach and Sturla Fagerhaug. The American and the Norwegian, both more experienced at 16 years, had looked set to snatch the race when Hiura slipped past in the final lap.

"The bike was great and I was able to win but I know I made some mistakes," Huira said. "I took the lead a few times but I was not perfect and I was passed again. Even half way round the last lap I made a mistake but I pushed and pushed and went up the inside on the brakes. I just made it."

Beach and Fagerhaug exchanged the lead but were unable to shake off the determined Hiura. Beach has now been on the minor podium lace in all three races and is second in the standings behind Cup leader Luis Salom. The Spaniard started back at 19 on the grid but charged through the field and finished in a very creditable fourth place. Salom won both of the opening races in Spain.

1. Daijiro Hiura, Japan, KTM

2. JD Beach, USA, KTM

3 Sturla Fagerhaug, Norway KTM

4 Luis Salom, Spain KTM

5 Nelson Major, France, KTM

1. Salom 63 points

2. Beach 60

3. Hiura, 47

- KTM-, Mattighofen-