Estoril all set for exciting third MotoGP round bwin.com Grande Premio de Portugal Thursday 10th April motogp A typically strong wind blowing in off the Atlantic Ocean, some sporadic rain showers and cool spring temperatures welcomed the MotoGP World Championship to Estoril on Thursday, ahead of the third Grand Prix of the 2008 season. With MotoGP’s travelling fraternity in town for the bwin.com Grande Premio de Portugal the paddock at the Fernando Pires da Silva circuit was already bustling as the teams put everything in place in advance of Friday’s practice sessions. At the customary pre-event press conference Jerez race winner Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) and the man who crossed the line just behind him at round two in Spain, Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha), fielded the questions from the attending media crowd, alongside Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki), James Toseland (Tech 3 Yamaha) and Ducati Marlboro’s MotoGP Project Director Livio Suppo. Looking forward to another challenging weekend of racing Pedrosa stated, “It looks like the forecast is not very clear, so it will be difficult to judge the temperature, the tyres and the wind, but anyway we will try to do our best! Last year was my first podium here which was a good result for me and I was fighting all the way through the race. We hope to improve that result this year.” Meanwhile Pedrosa’s rival and 2007 Estoril race winner Rossi, who has a tremendous record on Portuguese soil, added, “I like this circuit. It is an old style track and difficult, very technical. You go up and down a lot and the surface is not perfect, with some bumps, but you have to control the bike. Also the weather is a factor because it could rain and the wind is strong so it will be a hard race!” Rossi’s compatriot Capirossi in particular was a busy man on Thursday, having also attended an event earlier in the day in Lisbon organised by tyre suppliers Bridgestone, where nine of their riders previewed the weekend’s events. In addition to Capirossi and his Suzuki colleague Chris Vermeulen, the list of attendees also included World Champion Casey Stoner and his Ducati Marlboro team-mate Marco Melandri, Alice Team’s Sylvain Guintoli and Toni Elias, Kawasaki’s John Hopkins and Anthony West and San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Shinya Nakano – with the relaxed group of riders meeting the media and signing autographs for local fans.