FIM 125cc GP World Championship Estoril, Portugal May 1 Race Results: 1. Nicolas Terol, Spain (Apr RS125), 23 laps, 41:21.986, 86.689 mph 2. Sandro Cortese, Germany (Apr RS125), -3.671 seconds 3. Johann Zarco, France (Derbi DRD125), -4.466 4. Maverick Vinales, Spain (Apr RS125), -4.468 5. Jonas Folger, Germany (Apr RS125), -12.140 6. Efren Vazquez, Spain (Derbi DRD125), -20.304 7. Miguel Oliveira, Portugal (Apr RS125), -25.905 8. Luis Salom, Spain (Apr RS125), -46.316 9. Adrian Martin, Spain (Apr RS125), -46.395 10. Simone Grotzkyj, Italy (Apr RS125), -49.447 11. Zulfahmi Khairuddin, Malaysia (Derbi DRD125), -51.071 12. Sergio Gadea, Spain (Apr RS125), -60.365 13. Jakub Kornfeil, Czech Republic (Apr RS125), -60.479 14. Niklas Ajo, Finland (Apr RS125), -71.738 15. Danny Kent, Great Britain (Apr RS125), -73.752, jump start/ride-through penalty Race Distance, 23 laps, 59.76 miles Race Time, 41 minutes, 21.986 seconds Race Average Speed, 86.689 mph Victory Margin, 3.671 seconds Fastest Lap, Terol, 1:46.815, 87.580 mph, Lap 4 125cc WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS: (After 3 of 17 races): 1. Terol, 75 points 2. Cortese, 50 points 3. TIE, Folger/Zarco, 42 5. Vazquez, 30 points 6. TIE, Gadea/Vinales, 20 points 8. Kent, 17 points 9. Salom, 16 points 10. Oliveira, 15 points More, from a press release issued by Mahindra Racing: ANOTHER STEP FOR THE MAHINDRA TEAM * Best double finish of the season so far * May 1, 2011, Estoril: Mahindra rider Danny Webb finished 16th in today’s Portuguese Grand Prix. The 20-year-old Britain came so close to claiming his first points for the new Indian-owned team, but just lost the crucial 15th place with only two of the 23 laps remaining. Team-mate Marcel Schrötter finished two places lower, a massive improvement on his 27th spot on the grid after the team found settings to suit the 18-year-old German and improve his lap time by two seconds. But crippling pain from an earlier injury struck in the race, slowing his progress. The only team to build their own engine and chassis in the fiercely competitive 125cc class, Mahindra Racing now has a full day of testing in Estoril on Tuesday or Wednesday to iron out the little problems that are frustrating them, before the next round at Le Mans in France on May 15. “I believe in my riders, and the engine is fast,” said team manager Nicola Casadei. “Now we must look at the data to understand why we had some suspension problems today that weren’t present yesterday. We have a full day of testing, with some new engine parts as well as the new rear shock absorber, and I am sure we will make the next step after that.” DANNY WEBB 16th Position I’m gutted to just miss out on that point. The race was like Qatar. Everything was working in the first half, but when the tyres went down and lost grip, I was struggling. I saw the gap coming down from the rider behind me, and I tried my best, but when he came past I could see that he had much better grip out of the corners, where I was just bouncing around. We’re not too far off, but we need to work on longer runs to be more competitive at the end. I hope we can get it sorted at the test. MARCEL SCHRÖTTER 18th Position I can’t say I’m happy, but it’s a lot better than my qualifying. Today we made a big step, almost two seconds faster from practice to the race. I got a good start, and then I was battling with another rider. His bike was a bit quicker but I was faster in the corners. But we came to a slow rider, who moved out of the way for him then cut back on the racing line in front of me, so I lost touch. My biggest problem was my left leg. I hurt it before the season, and it has been okay until now … but today I had big pain in the last laps, and I was having trouble downshifting, and running wide in a lot of corners. The Mahindra Group’s Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Chief Brand Officer, Ruzbeh Irani, was present at Estoril this weekend and commented: “It has been a fantastic experience to be here and witness MotoGP first hand. It is such an exciting sport and is an important platform for Mahindra to promote our two-wheeler business in India as well as raising the profile of the group internationally. The team has been working extremely hard and we are confident that their efforts will be rewarded with some good results. We are committed to the sport for the long term and I would like to thank Dorna, in particular, for the warm welcome that they extended to us this weekend.” More, from a press release issued by Blusens by Paris Hilton Racing Team: MAVERICK NEARLY REACHES THE PODIUM AT GP OF PORTUGAL AS HE CROSSED FINISH IN FOURTH POSITION ONLY TWO THOUSANDTHS FROM THE THIRD QUALIFIED. HIS BLUSENS by PARIS HILTON RACING TEAM-MATE FINISHED IN TWELFTH POSITION Estoril, 1st May 2011. GP of Portugal occurred in dry conditions and Maverick Viñales played one of the main roles as he finished in fourth position hence nearly achieving his first podium ever at MotoGP world championship only two thousandths behind Johann Zarco who finished in third position and who overtook him in the final lap chicane. Blusens by Paris Hilton Racing Team catalan rider started in the eleventh position and managed straight away to beat his rivals and be in the fourth position from the ninth lap out the twenty-three of this third round of the world championship. From then on Mack was head of the leading group that was trying to catch up on Cortese and Faubel in the battle for the podium and five laps away from finish he caught up on them and overtook in the home stretch bend to be in the second position and from then on a harsh battle occurred between four pilots which Cortese (2nd) and Zarco (3rd) finally won. After the setback at Jerez during which a mechanical failure prevented him from reaching the podium Viñales proved again he was a rider to be taken into account in the future. On the contrary team-mate Sergio Gadea had a difficult race during which a minor incident and his inability to get a proper feel with his 125 caused him to battle for an objective which actually doesn’t match what he could potentially achieve. Puçol-born rider defended his tenth position during the first half of the race from lap thirteen just one lap before he rode his fastest lap. His Aprilia experienced a minor issue and he got consigned to the fourteenth position even though he crossed finish in twelfth position. Both riders are now equal in sixth position in the general ranking with twenty points and Viñales is in the first position to become the best rookie of the year. RICARD JOVÉ (TEAM MANAGER BLUSENS by PARIS HILTON RACING TEAM): “As well as thanking Mack for his outstanding performance Raúl Romero and myself would like to officially thank Christian Lundberg and his team of mechanics for being able to give him a suitable bike after discovering yesterday afternoon an issue that hindered his performance. Mack is the team’s favourite and after only three races he has been very close to reaching the podium twice. At Jerez a mechanical issue prevented him from reaching the podium and today he was only two thousandths behind the third qualified hence proving he is a competitive and winning rider. I am sure that sponsors, Blusens, Avintia and Pacha, and Paris Hilton will be very happy with him.” 25 MAVERICK VIÑALES (4th. 41’26.454, +4.468): “When the race finished I thought I had crossed the finish in third position but later I realised I was only in fourth position. It is really a pity because we were really that close to making it to the podium. I’d like to thank my team for the hard work as yesterday afternoon they discovered a problem that was keeping us from being faster and their work has been fundamental for us to be so competitive today. By the way we rode at a pace a second higher than that we had during the tests. The problem was a carbon plate on the fairing which couldn’t properly flex hence preventing the shock absorber from working properly. The mechanics managed to detect the issue and fix it. I think I did very well today, I have been pushing it to the very limits on some occasion and taking a lot of risks especially when I overtook Faubel and Cortese in the home stretch I knew I could brake later than them and I was about to crash on various occasions but I managed to get over all this. I thought Zarco was a bit further behind in the chicane but he overtook well and gain a few metres which have prevented me from reaching the podium by two thousandths. It is a bitter-sweet feeling but the outcome is quite positive as we started very far behind and we ended up in the battle for the podium. What we have left to achieve now is to qualify in order to start in better positions.” 33 SERGIO GADEA (12th. 42’22.351, +1’00.365): “I am angry because I can’t manage to adapt to this bike and despite the team has been working very well I can’t score any satisfying time and the results are disappointing. I was fighting for the tenth position today which is very far from where I should be and halfway through the race I had a little problem with the bike which caused me to lose the pace as well as a few places I was consigned to the fourteenth place to eventually be in the twelfth place which is a very poor result. The team’s attitude makes me confident though and this enables me to only focus on the setting-up of the bike. In spite of this underachievement and the crash at Jerez it is no time to give up but instead working harder so things will get better in the future GPs.”