Round 17 of 18 at Estoril this weekend marks the beginning of the final stint of the 2010 FIM MotoGP World Championship, with the bwin Grande Premio de Portugal the first in the last two races of the campaign which are back-to-back affairs. With Jorge Lorenzo already proclaimed 2010 World Champion it still remains to be seen in which order Dani Pedrosa, Casey Stoner, Valentino Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso will close the season. With the pressure well and truly off Lorenzo is going for wins to cap off his momentous year, and at Estoril the Fiat Yamaha man only has winning form in the premier class. In his two previous MotoGP visits in 2008 and 2009 the Spaniard has taken victory from pole, so will be ever confident of adding an eighth win in this his title-winning third season. Hoping for a more successful return to action than in the previous round at Australia, Repsol Honda rider Pedrosa will have had an extra 12 days in which to allow his injured collarbone to further recover. The 25 year-old heads up the group of four who all still have a chance of a second-placed finish in the standings, and he has stood on the podium at Estoril for the past three years. Ducati man Stoner, who moved up to eighth in the list of all-time winners in the premier class with his 23rd career victory in the last round, has twice finished on the podium at Estoril in the premier class and in his current form will be aiming to deliver Ducati their first MotoGP win at the Portuguese track. Just eight points behind him is Valentino Rossi, who has the most victories at the track with five. The Fiat Yamaha man has nine podiums in total there and has only failed to step onto the rostrum once in his last ten visits, which was last year when he placed fourth. Dovizioso sits a further 18 points behind his fellow Italian and the Repsol Honda rider will be determined to step back on the podium after his run of two straight rostrum finishes was halted by a mechanical fault in Australia. Ben Spies (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) has already secured the Rookie of the Year award and top satellite rider for 2010 and in Estoril faces a track on which he has never previously raced, a fact which appears to have done little to hinder his progress in similar situations this season. Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) will be another highly focused rider as he seeks to overcome the disappointment of just missing out on a podium in the last round. Marco Simoncelli’s 250cc form at Estoril second in 2008 and victory in 2009 will give the San Carlo Honda Gresini rider added confidence as he continues his impressive progress, with Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) another rider looking for a strong finish to the season. Making a return to the World Championship after an almost three-year absence will be Carlos Checa. The 38 year-old Spaniard has been confirmed as Mika Kallio’s replacement on the Pramac Racing team for the final two rounds of the 2010 season, and will ride with the number 71 on his livery. Moto2 Toni Elías’ crowning as inaugural Moto2 World Champion in Malaysia may have ended the chase for the intermediate category title, but the battle for runner-up spot is still very much alive with two rounds remaining. This weekend both Julián Simón and Andrea Iannone will be aiming to improve their individual chances of taking the honour with strong results. Moto2 World Champion Elías has a solid record at Estoril having won three times previously there (250cc in 2003 and 2004 and MotoGP in 2006), but the focus will undoubtedly be on the two riders who sit further back in the standings. Just two points separate Mapfre Aspar’s Simón and his Fimmco Speed Up rival Iannone in second and third position, with Swiss rider Thomas Lüthi of the Interwetten Moriwaki team also still holding a mathematical chance of ending the campaign in second as he sits 36 points off Iannone and in fourth. Neither Simón or Iannone have scored a podium finish at Estoril before with the Spaniard’s fifth place in the 125cc class in 2006 his best result there to date. His Italian counterpart has not had a top-ten finish in four previous starts at the track, with 11th in 2008 his best result to date. Lüthi meanwhile took a podium finish on his way to the 2005 125cc title and has finished fourth twice in the past three seasons in the former 250cc category. Simone Corsi (JiR Moto2) is currently fifth in the Championship and enjoyed a dominant 125cc visit to Estoril in 2008 taking victory from pole, whilst his team-mate Alex de Angelis is fresh off the back of his first win in the Moto2 campaign having tasted success in Australia. Another rider also in good form is young Brit Scott Redding who took his Suter machine of the Marc VDS Racing Team to a season’s best finish of second at Phillip Island, and who has qualified on the front row for five of the last six races. Joining the Moto2 field this weekend will be two wild card riders in Dani Rivas (Mr Griful) and Xavier Simeon (Holiday Gym Racing), whilst Turkish rider Kenan Sofuoglu begins his two-race partnership with the Technomag-CIP team, as does Spaniard Carmelo Morales with Racing Team Germany. 125cc Thanks to his ninth win of the season in Australia last time out Marc Márquez has placed himself in a position to be able to claim the 125cc World Championship this weekend, and if he were to do so the 17 year-old would become the second-youngest World Champion in the 62-year history of GP racing behind one Loris Capirossi. Márquez is 12 points clear of Nico Terol (Bancaja Aspar) and 17 ahead of Pol Espargaró (Tuenti Racing) at the top of the standings with two rounds remaining, and there are a number of scenarios which would hand him the title at Round 16. One such outcome would be a victory at Estoril for Márquez with Espargaró failing to place second and Terol no higher than fifth, but with his rivals still holding their own title hopes it is a delicate situation. Márquez’s experience at Estoril has not seen him score points in either of his two previous races there he crashed when running in second last year whilst Espargaró was the race winner last season. Terol has a best result of third in the 2008 race and suffered the same fate as Márquez last year, all of which adds to the anticipation for the penultimate race of a 2010 campaign that has thrilled throughout. Bradley Smith (Bancaja Aspar) is still in search of a first win of the season and placed on the podium at Estoril last year, whilst Esteve Rabat (Blusens-STX), Efrén Vázquez (Tuenti Racing) and Sandro Cortese (Avant Mitsubishi Ajo) are separated by just five points as they contest fifth position in the standings. Three wild card entries will also ride with Italians Alessandro Tonucci and Luigi Morciano both competing for Junior GP Racing Team and French youngster Robin Barbosa for the H43 Hernandez. The last two rounds of the season also see a return to the three-practice session format which was successfully trialled at Aragón, with the opening session in the MotoGP class at Estoril scheduled to get underway at 10.05am local time on Friday. More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM RETURN TO EUROPE FOR FINAL TWO ROUNDS After a positive weekend in Australia that saw a victory for Casey Stoner and a top performance from Nicky Hayden, the Ducati Marlboro Team is back in Europe ready to tackle the final two rounds of the season at Estoril, Portugal, this weekend and Valencia, Spain, seven days later. Both races will be preceded by four 45 minutes sessions starting on Friday morning. After competitive recent displays at a variety of circuits both Stoner and Hayden are confident of finding a good set-up to get the best out of their GP10 machines at the Portuguese circuit, where weather conditions are always uncertain. CASEY STONER, Ducati Marlboro Team “I have had a mixture of different results at Estoril – some good like my first 250cc win in 2005 and a podium in 2007, some not so good like when we had a problem with the on-board camera in 2008. Then we were back on the podium again in 2009″¦ I was fast there last year but Jorge was a little faster. He is very strong at this circuit and I think we can expect him to be so again next Sunday. We just have to focus on the job of setting the bike up. We know that there are a lot of bumps here and our bike usually reacts quite aggressively over bumps, so we will have to see if we can adapt the set up. The GP10 has worked well in all kinds of conditions over the last few races so we’re pretty confident”. NICKY HAYDEN, Ducati Marlboro Team “The end of the season is on the horizon but we have two races left to do well in so it’s now or never as far as this season is concerned. Estoril is pretty normal, there’s nothing really special about the track apart from a very fast section onto the back straight and then towards the end of the lap there’s a chicane which I think is the slowest in MotoGP. The track is very tight, which makes it demanding, and given that the circuit is close to the ocean, like Phillip Island, you usually get wind and changeable weather. In any case we are ready for any conditions and looking to finish the season in a positive way.” VITTORIANO GUARESCHI, Team Manager “We are back in Europe after a series of positive results overseas, and in Portugal at a circuit that perhaps isn’t one of our best, but still had some good podiums there. Even though he has not won here yet in MotoGP Casey has always been fast here and he returned after three months out to take an excellent second place last year. Both he and Nicky have found a set-up they feel comfortable with in all conditions and we will also try to adapt it to this circuit. We know it won’t be easy because Estoril is a demanding circuit with an irregular and slippery track surface but we are ready to give our best as always.” THE TRACK Estoril is a circuit of huge contrasts. The main straight is one of the longest in MotoGP, allowing for speeds in excess of 300km/h, whilst the chicane is one of the slowest and alongside the Corkscrew at Laguna Seca one of the most difficult. The average speed of the circuit is the lowest of the entire MotoGP calendar and the contrast between the fast and slow sections requires a tricky compromise in the set-up of the chassis. The same can be said for the engine, which needs to provide good top speed as well as sweet performance in low revs. However, perhaps the most important variable for the riders is the circuit’s close proximity to the Atlantic ocean, which can create strong winds that unbalance the riders and leave dirt on the track surface, reducing grip levels, The circuit plays host to the Grand Prix of Portugal for the eleventh time this year, with the race having previously been held in 1987 and 1988 in Spain, before Estoril met with the safety requirements. More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Capirossi to battle on in Portugal despite injuries Loris Capirossi will compete at the Portuguese Grand Prix this weekend even though he has been diagnosed with fractures to the right foot he injured in Malaysia, on top of the groin injury he sustained in Australia. Rizla Suzuki’s Italian racer returned early from the Australian event after crashing heavily and injuring his Adductor muscle. Capirossi visited the clinic on his return home to have the injury checked and also had a scan on his foot to fully understand the cause of his pain. This revealed a compound fracture of the Cuboid bone, two micro-fractures of the fourth Metatarsal and severe bruising to the Calcaneus and lateral Cuneiform bones. Although Capirossi is still in some discomfort from the injuries, he is determined to compete this weekend at Estoril. Álvaro Bautista heads to Portugal on the back of three strong racing performances during the recent Pacific Grands Prix. He is in a determined mood ahead of what he believes to be another ‘home’ Grand Prix, at a racetrack where he has previous knowledge of riding a MotoGP machine – following last year’s November ‘Rookie’ test and the added confidence from winning at the Estoril circuit on three of his previous four visits. The 4,182m Automotodrom Fernanda Pires da Silva circuit at Alcabideche near Estoril has ultra-fast corners and an almost kilometre-long straight, plus one of the slowest sections of the season making for a very contrasting layout. Situated on a rocky plateau high above the towns of Estoril and Cascais, just to the west of the Portuguese capital of Lisbon, the circuit is only a few kilometres from the Atlantic Ocean and high-winds whipped up off the sea are a problem that riders have to contend with. Rizla Suzuki takes to the track on Friday morning for the first practice session, as MotoGP again returns to four practice sessions in a weekend – instead of the usual three. The second and third sessions will take place on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning respectively, with qualifying taking place on Saturday afternoon. Sunday’s 26-lap race is the penultimate Grand Prix of the 2010 season with the riders taking to the grid at the earlier time of 13.00hrs local time (13.00hrs GMT). Loris Capirossi: “It was disappointing to find out I had got some small fractures in my foot, but it won’t stop me riding, because I was ok in Australia and it didn’t cause me too many problems there in fact it is easier to ride the bike than it is to walk! I have had some intensive treatment on the thigh muscle and that is also a lot better. I can’t wait to get back on my bike and give the guys something back for all their patience and hard-work over the season, especially after the tough three-week tour we had on the other side of the world which gave us nothing but pain and bike damage. Suzuki and the team have always been good to me and I want to show them that I am here to do my best and compete with the best riders.” Álvaro Bautista: “I really like it at Estoril, I have had lots of success there and it is a track I like to race at – it is as close to my home town as some of the Spanish tracks so it feels like a ‘home’ GP to me, especially because I know many of my family, friends and fans will be there to support me. I went there with the GSV-R last year so I will have a bit of an idea of the reference points on a MotoGP bike, similar to what I had at Sepang, so hopefully we can be as competitive right from the start in Portugal as we were there. We had a couple of problems at Phillip Island and they have all now been sorted and won’t happen again, so we will be able to go right from the start and try to get back into that top-six, where I know we are capable of being.” More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Bridgestone MotoGP Preview – Round 17: Portugal, Estoril Tuesday 26 October 2010 Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Soft, Medium. Rear: Medium, Hard (both asymmetric) After the recent overseas trio of races, the Portuguese Grand Prix represents the first half of the final back-to-back pairing of the 2010 season. The Riders’ and Teams’ championships have been clinched, by Jorge Lorenzo and the Fiat Yamaha Team, but the Constructors’ title is still up for grabs, as is second position in the riders’ championship. The Estoril circuit is one of the most technically challenging races on the calendar for Bridgestone’s tyres. It has a very varied layout and nature with a multitude of different corner characteristics, corner loads and surfaces and so a well-balanced setup is important to allow the tyres to perform consistently throughout a lap. Top speed is high along the main straight with the bikes reaching over 325km/h before braking heavily into turn one, demanding a strong front tyre. Ambient conditions are usually cold though, especially as the race is held almost a month later than last year, and the tarmac is slippery so softer front tyre compounds are required to generate grip. For the same reasons, softer rear tyres are also required whilst balancing the demands of the fast Parabó lica corner in particular. The circuit’s imbalance of four left-handed corners and nine rights mean that Bridgestone has selected asymmetric rear slick tyres for Estoril. The right-handers are generally fast so the tyre temperature in the right shoulder is high but the left-handers are generally slow, including the chicane which is the slowest corner on the calendar, so tyre temperature in the left side is much cooler. Particularly with the reinstatement of Friday morning practice, when the conditions are colder, tyre warm-up performance is very important. After its debut success in Australia, Bridgestone are again incorporating the extra soft compound rubber into the asymmetric rear slicks to improve warm-up performance and grip on the slippery tarmac. Hiroshi Yamada Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Department “After a long run of overseas races we return to Europe for the final back-to-back of the season and although the Championship has already been won, there is still a lot to play for further down the order with close battles being fought for second position and throughout the top ten. Estoril is being run almost a month later this season than in 2009 meaning we can expect colder conditions, but we have prepared for this by using our extra soft compound in our asymmetric rear slicks. I am pleased that this compound was so well received by the riders in Australia because we have been listening to the riders throughout the season and this extra soft compound has been developed in response to the feedback they have given us.” Tohru Ubukata Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department “Estoril is a challenging mixture of slow-speed lefts, high-speed rights and interlinking straights that test all aspects of the rider, machine and tyre package. The nature of the track changes from one corner to the next, and the tyres also have to contend with a surface change during the lap after partial resurfacing work conducted in 2006. The use of asymmetric rear tyres is also very important here to balance the tyre temperature around the asymmetric layout. “It’s a slippery circuit and the temperature is low so this demands softer compounds to generate grip, but the heavy braking points require a strong front tyre and the fast and long right-hand corners necessitate harder compounds in the right shoulder of the rear slicks so we have to achieve a balance with our tyre selection. Warm-up performance around the left-handers is particularly important, and because of this we will use the extra soft compound that we debuted in Australia in the left shoulders of our asymmetric rear slicks. I am pleased with the positive feedback from the riders after using our extra soft compound as we have developed it after listening to them throughout the season and working closely with them to always try and improve our tyre offerings. This tyre development is a very important aspect of our participation in MotoGP and ultimately filters down to improve our road tyres.” More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: REPSOL HONDA TEAM HEADS FOR PENULTIMATE RACE OF 2010 The Repsol Honda Team returns to action in Europe this weekend after the extended three-race excursion to Japan, Malaysia and Australia. The Estoril circuit is the venue for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Portugal which promises to be a tightly contested affair as the 2010 season draws to its conclusion with the final two races on two consecutive weekends. Dani Pedrosa arrives in Portugal relishing the prospect of his return to racing having benefitted from a further two weeks to recover from his injured left collarbone. Last Tuesday the Spaniard had the stitches removed following the operation he underwent on 2 October to plate the collarbone, and further physiotherapy has improved the mobility and strength in his left shoulder. The true test of his fitness will come in the first practice session on Friday morning, but Pedrosa is looking forward to getting back on board the Honda RC212V in Estoril – a circuit where he has taken podium finishes for the last three years. Andrea Dovizioso will also be hoping for a return to the podium in Portugal after re-establishing himself as a regular MotoGP frontrunner in the recent “flyaway” races in Japan and Malaysia. His unlucky DNF at the last race in Australia means that third in the world championship is now a difficult target, but the Italian won’t give up while the mathematical possibility remains. Dovizioso enjoyed plenty of success at Estoril in the 250cc class, winning the race in 2006 and taking second place in 2005 and 2007. Although he hasn’t enjoyed those kind of results in MotoGP, he is still confident he will have the pace to replicate his recent strong form and challenge for the rostrum this weekend. Estoril has a reputation as a tight and technical track and one where the weather often plays a part in proceedings – indeed early forecasts suggest that rain may make an appearance this weekend. The circuit’s standout feature is the increasing radius final turn which has the knack of producing some thrillingly close finishes as the riders exit side-by-side onto the start straight on the final lap. First practice for the Grand Prix of Portugal takes place on Friday morning at 10.05 (GMT +1 hour), with Sunday’s 28-lap race starting at 13.00 (GMT +0 hours). DANI PEDROSA World Championship position 2nd 228 points “We get back on track this weekend at Estoril and, in principle, the situation should be much better than it was for me in Australia. The Estoril circuit is not as demanding as Phillip Island and this should help me to feel more comfortable on the bike. Plus I’ve had some more time to recover which should help too. This kind of injury needs time to heal and with two more weeks having passed I’m really looking forward to seeing how much the shoulder has improved. I went to visit the doctor last Tuesday to have the stitches removed, and the scar is fine. I’ve been doing some more rehabilitation on the muscles and I have some more strength, but I will not be able to fully judge how much difference there is until I get on the bike on Friday morning. Also, I think it can be positive for me that there will be two practice sessions on Friday again, as we had in Aragon. In te rms of the track layout, Estoril has some hard braking areas and it’s bumpy, but the fact that it has more right hand corners than left can be good for us. So, I’m looking forward to getting there with my team and seeing how I feel.” ANDREA DOVIZIOSO World Championship position 5th 179 points “We head into the Grand Prix of Portugal with a lot of confidence and I think we can get a good result at Estoril. We had two strong second place finishes in Japan and Malaysia, and we could have had another podium finish in Australia too, so there’s no reason to expect anything less this weekend. I know that we are competitive in Portugal and we are determined to have a good race and to fight for another top-three finish. Estoril is a track where I have achieved some good results in the past and, even though I was seventh last year, this wasn’t indicative of our potential. The circuit itself is quite difficult because the layout is slow and narrow, which makes controlling the power of a MotoGP machine a major challenge. This also means it’s really important to understand the track’s characteristics very well and to find a good compromise with the machine set up . We will make full use of the extra practice session on Friday morning and we’re looking forward to these last two races of the season.” More, from a press release issued by Honda: HONDA MotoGP MEN ALL SET FOR FINAL TWO RACES OF 2010 Following its three-race tour in Asia and Australia, MotoGP returns to Europe for two season-ending events on the Iberian peninsula, this Sunday’s Portuguese Grand Prix and the following Sunday’s Valencia Grand Prix. This weekend’s event will depart from the norm in having four practice sessions for each class, instead of the usual three. At Estoril, 30km (18 miles) from Portugal’s capital city of Lisbon, Honda’s six-man MotoGP line-up should be back to full racing strength with the return of Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V). The Spaniard, who broke his left collarbone in a crash at the Japanese GP on October 1, attempted to race at the Australian GP on October 17 but had to withdraw from the event because the shoulder was too painful and too weak for racing. The injury had been pinned and plated in Barcelona the day after the accident. Pedrosa is a famously brave rider, prepared to grit his teeth whenever necessary to reach his chosen goals, but Phillip Island was a race too early for the former 125 and 250 World Champion. Following his abortive Australian trip the 25-year-old Spaniard is hoping he will have recovered sufficiently since then to defend his second place in the 2010 MotoGP World Championship. Until the accident at Motegi, Pedrosa had been sitting comfortably in second place, with a mathematical chance of winning the title following an impressive midseason run of results. Two wins and two second places at the four races preceding Japan had closed the gap on Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha), but with three no scores he is now just 23 points ahead of 2007 World Champion Casey Stoner (Ducati). Pedrosa has podium form at Estoril, with three top-three finishes at the last three Portuguese GPs, though he has yet to win a race at the challenging circuit which mixes ultra-fast sweepers with MotoGP’s slowest corner, the left/right chicane. Second in 2007 and 2008, he was third in 2009. While Pedrosa is involved in a battle for the runner-up spot in the championship after countryman Lorenzo secured the title at the Malaysian round his team-mate Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V) is battling for third place in the highly competitive 2010 series. The 24-year-old Italian is currently fifth, just 14 points behind Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) and 26 points behind Stoner, following a DNF at the last round in Australia. Dovizioso has been on fine form at recent rounds, scoring two second-place finishes at Motegi and Sepang. Although a 2010 victory still eludes him, the former 125 World Champion had proved that he has winning pace, finishing just behind Stoner at Motegi and a fraction of a second behind Rossi at Sepang. Rookie Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) has climbed the championship standings with a run of strong results at recent races. The 23-year-old Italian gets faster and more spectacular with every ride aboard his RCV and he’s finished in the top six at two of the last three races. This improvement has impressed HRC staff, who invited Simoncelli to visit the company’s R&D facility on his way home to Europe to test new bodywork, specially adapted to fit the lanky Italian. This was his second wind-tunnel outing this year. Simoncelli’s sixth place at Phillip Island moved him into eighth overall, ahead of Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V). Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) is the third Honda rider in the battle for eighth, just seven points behind de Puniet. Simoncelli has good reason to be confident that this will be another good weekend for him because he goes well at Estoril he won last year’s 250 race at the track and was second in the 2008 250 encounter. De Puniet and Melandri have yet to make the top three in the elite class at Estoril but both have stood on the 250 podium at the track; de Puniet in 2003, 2004 and 2005, Melandri in 2001, 2002 and 2003. Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP RC212V) scored his best result of the year three weeks ago at Sepang, taking a brilliant seventh-place result. This weekend the Japanese MotoGP rookie who missed five midseason races after breaking a vertebra at June’s British GP wants to get back inside the top ten after a challenging three days in Australia. Toni Elias (Gresini Racing Moto2, Moriwaki) may have wrapped up the first MotoGP World Championship at the recent Malaysian GP, but there is still plenty of racing to be done in the fast and furious intermediate category. Elias will certainly want to be back on the podium in front of his Spanish fans, after finishing outside the top three in Australia and Malaysia. And then there is his compatriot Julian Simon (Mapfre Aspar Team, Suter) who had been knocking on the door of his first Moto2 win for months the Spaniard has already scored seven podiums, including four consecutive second-place finishes and is determined to climb the top step before the season is done. Simon is locked in an intense contest for the championship runner-up spot with Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up, Speed Up) who scored his seventh podium at Phillip Island. The impressive Italian has already won three Moto2 races this year, so there is no doubt that he will have winning pace at these final races. The man on form in Phillip Island was Alex De Angelis (JIR Moto2, Motobi) who took pole position and the win in what was only his fifth race with the JIR squad. So far this year the San Marino rider has ridden for three different teams in two different categories, and finally it seems he has found the rich vein of form he deserves. Estoril is one of the slowest circuits on the MotoGP calendar, with a lap record of less than 155km/h (96mph). Nevertheless the track presents a real challenge to riders and engineers. The contrast between very slow and very fast corners demands some tricky compromises in chassis set-up, with riders requiring manoeuvrability in the tight corners and stability in the sweepers. These two characteristics aren’t mutually exclusive but it’s not easy to create a motorcycle that excels in both situations, so compromise is the only answer. It’s the same with the engine the contrast between the fast start-finish straight and the many slow-speed corners requires maximum peak horsepower as well as gentle low-rev performance. But perhaps the greatest concern for riders is the track’s proximity to the Atlantic. High-speed winds can whip off the ocean, blowing bikes and riders off course and throwing dust onto the circuit, making for challenging conditions. Estoril hosts its 11th Grand Prix this weekend, though this is the 13th Portuguese GP. The nation’s first two GPs were held at Spanish tracks in 1987 and 1988, because Estoril failed stringent track safety standards. HONDA MotoGP RIDER QUOTES Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa says: “We get back on track this weekend at Estoril and, in principle, the situation should be much better than it was for me in Australia. The Estoril circuit is not as demanding as Phillip Island and this should help me to feel more comfortable on the bike. Plus I’ve had some more time to recover which should help too. This kind of injury needs time to heal and with two more weeks having passed I’m really looking forward to seeing how much the shoulder has improved. I went to visit the doctor last Tuesday to have the stitches removed, and the scar is fine. I’ve been doing some more rehabilitation on the muscles and I have some more strength, but I will not be able to fully judge how much difference there is until I get on the bike on Friday morning. Also, I think it can be positive for me that there will be two practice sessions on Friday again, as we had in Aragon. In terms of the track layout, Estoril has some hard braking areas and it’s bumpy, but the fact that it has more right-hand corners than left can be good for us. So, I’m looking forward to getting there with my team and seeing how I feel.” Repsol Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso says: “We head into the Grand Prix of Portugal with a lot of confidence and I think we can get a good result at Estoril. We had two strong second place finishes in Japan and Malaysia, and we could have had another podium finish in Australia too, so there’s no reason to expect anything less this weekend. I know that we are competitive in Portugal and we are determined to have a good race and to fight for another top-three finish. Estoril is a track where I have achieved some good results in the past and, even though I was seventh last year, this wasn’t indicative of our potential. The circuit itself is quite difficult because the layout is slow and narrow, which makes controlling the power of a MotoGP machine a major challenge. This also means it’s really important to understand the track’s characteristics very well and to find a good compromise with the machine set up. We will make full use of the extra practice session on Friday morning and we’re looking forward to these last two races of the season.” LCR Honda rider Randy de Puniet says: “Estoril is a very interesting race track and I cannot wait to race there. I am bit worried about the weather which can be similar to Phillip Island, and the weather forecast is not very good at the moment. Anyway I think we can be fast there and we need to be fast to end the race in the top eight. I need to score important points for the championship as the season is coming to an end. Last race was not bad but I could finish in a better position. I must take the best from my machine in the final two rounds.” San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Marco Simoncelli says: “I was really satisfied with the race at Phillip Island but I want to see my performances reflected in numbers. It was a nice race in Australia but it was still a sixth place in the end so I need to work on my consistency. It won’t be easy but that is what I will be trying to do alongside the team. After Phillip Island I had a ‘bonus trip’ to Japan for another visit to the wind tunnel. Honda are looking at using a new cowling so that I can tuck in my over-size frame. As soon as I got home to Italy I started thinking about Estoril, a circuit I like a lot. I won there last year and finished second in 2008 and it seems to be a place that suits my riding style so if we can find a good feeling with the bike I’m sure I can have another good race.” San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Marco Melandri says: “At Phillip Island we were dancing to the same old tune. I can’t get a feel for the bike, so it’s hard for me to ride. It is a tough situation but I have not lost hope and at Estoril I will try again although I think we need a miracle. We’ll see but I would love to finish the season with a good result.” Interwetten Honda MotoGP rider Hiroshi Aoyama says: “I hope we can improve in Estoril. I like the track, but it is so different to the last two racetracks. Estoril is similar to the Motegi circuit and I hope it suits the bike. My race in Malaysia was so good and I had a lot of confidence, but in Australia it was not good and I lost the confidence again. You never know in advance what will happen on the racetrack until you are really on it, so it is not easy to predict what will happen in Estoril and Valencia. The conditions will be different and for sure the bike will react different on that, so we will see where we are on Sunday afternoon.” Moto2 RIDER QUOTES Gresini Racing Moto2 rider Toni Elias says: “It was a difficult weekend at Phillip Island because we were held back by a mystery gearbox problem. The team worked really hard to fix it but the problem persisted throughout the race. It was a shame because I had a great feeling with the bike but couldn’t make the most of it. I was disappointed after the race but also happy because I still had a good race and a great last lap. I am sure we will make up for it at Estoril, where I took a MotoGP win that will forever remain in my heart. After the celebrations that were put on for me in my home town of Manresa I want to do the title justice in Portugal. I want to do the thing I was unable to do in Australia and I will tackle it with the same determination as always and with the continued support of a fantastic team.” Mapfre Aspar Team rider Julian Simon says: “Phillip Island wasn’t as easy race after I had crashed in warm-up, but we finished fourth, just behind Iannone, so we didn’t lose too many points to him. That means that we still have a very good chance of taking the runner-up spot in the championship, so you can sure we will keep fighting till the very end. Estoril is a tricky track and it also looks like the weather will not be perfect this weekend. We will keep our heads down, keep working hard and do our best to score out first win in Moto2.” Fimmco Speed Up rider Andrea Iannone says: “These last two races will be a lot of fun everyone wants to finish the year well. We have had some great results, but of course we always want more and we will be doing everything in our powers to score a fourth win at Estoril. The good thing is that I know that I can rely upon my team to work hard and do a great job this weekend.” Interwetten Moriwaki Moto2 rider Thomas Luthi says: “I was looking forward so much to be back home after the long trip outside of Europe. Estoril is the first of the last two races and I hope that other than in the last races I can collect some more points in these two races. Estoril and Valencia for me is like one race. It is the big finale and I have no idea what is waiting for us there. I really hope we can get in front a little bit more. I am looking forward to these last two races.” HONDA 125 RIDER QUOTE Marcel Schrötter, Interwetten Honda 125 Team: “I hope I can continue like I did in the last races. Of course my target also for Estoril is to get some points and it would be great if I could finish the race in the Top 12. If I can achieve that I would be very happy. The last couple of races I was quite satisfied. I cannot say much about Estoril itself as I never visited this track before. I will watch some of the races from the last couple of years and see if I can get some grips out of them.”