Rio GP. Preview

The World Championship leaves Europe and heads for Brazil this weekend
Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa arrive in Rio leading the standings; Toni Elias only fourteen points behind the leadership
There are still 125 points at stake, five races to be held and three titles yet to be decided. In the MotoGP class, the leader since the first race of the season is called Valentino Rossi, reigning MotoGP Champion, with a current, comfortable advantage of 46 points over the second rider in the standings, his fellow Honda rider Sete Gibernau. The Repsol rider’s figures at the Nelson Piquet circuit in Rio are impressive: victory in the 125cc in 1997, victory in the 250cc in 1999, and three consecutive victories in the premier category in 2000, 2001 and 2002. With this record, Rossi arrives in Brazil as unquestionable favourite. Things won’t be as easy for his teammate, the North American rider Nicky Hayden. Once again he will be riding on a circuit he doesn’t know and despite his clear improvement during the last races, Hayden will have to give his very best in Rio, if he wants to be among the fastest riders of the class in the races, as he has already stated.In the 250cc, the rest of the season will be filled with excitement, with five riders fighting for the championship title: Poggiali, Toni Elias, Rolfo, De Puniet and Fonsi Nieto. Poggiali, leader of the overall standings, has an advantage of fourteen points over the second classified, Repsol rider Elias, who made a big step forward with regard to the battle for the championship title with his victory in Portugal. His teammate Fonsi Nieto had bad luck in Portugal and finished ninth, setting him back to the fifth overall position, twenty-two points behind the leader. Sebastián Porto, who has had a quite irregular season with regard to results, gets back to a venue where he managed to clinch the first victory of his sports career last year. This extra motivation on a circuit where Porto feels especially comfortable should help the YPF rider to finally get the podium he has been fighting for so much this season.In the minor category, Dani Pedrosa is moving forward towards a title that is getting closer race by race. His fourth position in the last Grand Prix of Portugal and Perugini’s crash allow Alberto Puig’s pupil to face the final sprint of the championship with a 38 points advantage over the Italian, classified second. And while Pedrosa is focussing on the title, Pablo Nieto and Héctor Barberá are longing to round off a season climbing some positions in the overall standings. Nieto is fifth in the standings, 24 points behind the second classified rider and Héctor Barberá eighth, 39 points behind Perugini.