Gibernau came very close to his first victory of the season in Portugal. In the morning, heavy rain soaked the Estoril track for all of the three classes. Gibernau had only qualified ninth on Saturday, but knew his underpowered Suzuki GSV-R had a fighting chance in the rain. When the red lights went out on Sunday, he shot up from ninth to first on the opening lap after a great start, with Rossi, Roberts and Ukawa following him on lap four.