The most exciting World Championship is back in Europe for its final straight
Nicky Hayden arrives in Portugal leading the MotoGP overall standings and will be fighting to clinch his first world championship title. Dani Pedrosa will be already recovered from his knee injury in Estoril.
The intense and busy three races in September have already been left behind and the World Championship will stage this weekend the Grand Prix of Portugal, sixteenth round of the 2006 Motorcycling World Championship. After Portugal the most contended world championship of the latest years will have its finishing touch in Valencia a couple of weeks later, at the Circuito Ricardo Tormo, with the Comunitat Valenciana Grand Prix.
Nicky Hayden arrives this weekend in Portugal leading the MotoGP overall standings although with a short advantage of 12 points, with 50 points yet at stake. Conclusion: anything can happen. Even his team mate Dani Pedrosa has mathematical chances to take the title, although Dani is currently fifth, 34 points behind Hayden. In addition to both riders of the Repsol Honda Team, there are also Valentino Rossi -12 points behind Hayden-, Marco Melandri -27 points behind- and Loris Capirossi -31 points- in the fight for the title. Dani Pedrosa, who will have recovered from the injury suffered during the practice sessions of the Malaysian Grand Prix, has declared that the Estoril circuit is not one of his favourite circuits but even if he hasn’t achieved excellent results there, he wants to make up for the back positions achieved in Australia and Japan.
Team mate Hayden, after the tests made by the Repsol Honda Team on Monday and Tuesday after the race in Japan is optimistic and confident that e will be able to clinch the title with the help of his team.In the quarter-of-a-litre class, David De Gea will be back on the Honda machine of the Repsol Honda Team 250, since Colombian rider Martín Cárdenas has not been able to recover from the injury in his left collarbone. De Gea, who knows the Portuguese track very well, confessed that Estoril is one of his favourite circuits. With no doubt a good chance for De Gea to make good use of his knowledge to get a good result in Portugal. The weekend will be more difficult for Japanese rider Shuhei Aoyama, since Thursday will be the first day for the youngest of the Aoyama brothers on the Portuguese track.The same situation will be expecting young Bradley Smith, who has no further references of Estoril than those of the race videos and the Playstation. But young Smith already surprised at the last Japanese Grand Prix, where he achieved a meritorious eighth position despite not knowing the Japanese track.
THE VENUE OF THE GP:
AUTODROMO FERNANDA PIRES DA SILVA
Built in 1972, very close to the Atlantic coast of Portugal and 28 km from Lisbon, the Estoril circuit changed its name in 1992 to Autodromo Fernanda Pires da Silva, after the businesswoman who had been the driving force behind the building of the track.
After several changes in order to increase safety and to adapt to the technical regulations, the new circuit hosted its first Formula One race in 1984. A new modification in 1999 made it possible to host in 2000 the first Grand Prix staged on Portuguese grounds. The Estoril circuit is one of the most difficult tracks on the Grand Prix calendar: its complex and demanding layout combines difficult corners, heavy braking zones and bumpy sections, distributed on 4182 m, and a difficult chicane which was added in 1994. The Fernanda Pires da Silva track has 4 slow left-hand corners and 9 right-hand corners with a 986 m long straight. Given the complexity and demanding character of the circuit, the engineers have a real challenge in Estoril when it comes to choosing the tyres and setting the chassis of the bikes. Given its geographical situation, very close to the Atlantic Ocean and the mountains of Sintra, there usually are strong winds, although its warm weather makes it a regular venue for the preseason testings.
Official website: http://www.sga-racing.com
Rider´s comments:
Nicky Hayden:
Im quite excited about the whole weekend in Portugal. Its a huge race for me I know that and Im prepared for it. The team had a couple of days testing after the last race in Japan and we made some progress there, so Im definitely looking forward to this one. It seems like a long time since we were last at Estoril because it was the second race last year. Its probably the track on the whole GP calendar that Ive got the least experience at. I missed one year there because of my knee and collarbone, and last year it was a wet race, and Ive never tested there. Last year I didnt have a very good result there and I struggled a lot so Im looking forward to definitely improving this time around.
Dani Pedrosa:
The target is to get a good result here because the last two results in Australia and Japan have been a little disappointing for me. Estoril is not one of my favourite tracks and my previous results here could have been better, but Ive been on pole position twice before so its a track I can go well at. I havent ridden the RC211V here before though, so Ill have to learn the track quickly on Friday. Of course the weather could play a part because its quite unstable at Estoril and it often rains. Im feeling better and stronger thanks to the short break following the Japan race so Im looking forward to getting back on the bike again and putting in a good result.
Shuhei Aoyama:
Ive never been to Portugal before so I dont know much about the track. The only thing I know is that I just have to push harder because I have had enough average results this season and I want to get on the podium. If I keep my same riding style I will continue with this results and thats something I want to change. So Ill give my very best in Portugal.
David De Gea:
I know the Estoril Circuit quite well and the truth is that I like it a lot, so I’m really happy to be able to race there. Its a very technical layout, and I think that the Honda machine can do well there. Despite having some fast straights it also has some slow sections like the chicane and other very technical sections in which we can make very good use of the features of our bike. I obviously know the bike much better after Japan and now I can at least imagine what I’m going to be facing. Fortunately the bike is now the way I like it as regards the riding position, handlebars, footrests& And thats a big help because I wont need to loose a whole day as it happened in Japan in order to adjust all these elements the way I like them. I will only have to adapt to the bike and work on the set-up. Once again I want to say thank you to Alberto Puig and the team, to Honda and to Repsol for the chance they are giving me.
Bradley Smith:
Portugal will be another new track for me to learn, but Ive shown over the last couple of races that new tracks havent been a problem for me, maybe the first days havent been so good but after two sessions on the track its all clicked together. Ill try to learn it on the Playstation as good as possible to try to give ourselves the opportunity to use the safe position ready for another good result. It will be nice to go back to Europe, though Ive only done to races, its been tiring, but it’s actually going to be the same, it may be a bit more difficult for me, but well wait and see and give it a 100%.
