The World Championship is back with us this weekend at the Circuit of Estoril, the reason being the Portuguese GP, and the start of the final run in to the 2007 season. After this weekend`s race the teams will immediately go to Japan, for the fifteenth date of 18, with a break of just seven days before the next race. For the two Repsol Honda Team riders returning to Estoril means going back to the track where one year ago the team had its worst experience of the 2006 season, both riders were involved in an accident.
In spite of this Hayden won the world title in the end and the incident was forgotten. One year later the current situation is very different for Hayden and Pedrosa, who have no chance of fighting for the world title, but are working to become competitive again and to get another victory. Dani Pedrosa has never won the Portuguese GP, but he has a good reason to do his best this weekend as the runner-up spot in the championship is still not decided, so he will be aiming to get the best out of his team and get a good result. The 18 point advantage that Rossi has in the overall classification is what Pedrosa is aiming to cut back.
After the unfortunate race in Misano, where Pedrosa was knocked off his bike on the first lap by De Puniet, Estoril should be a return to normality and he should put in a good performance and get even closer to Rossi.His teammate Nicky Hayden goes to Estoril confident after the tests he did at Misano on the Monday after the GP. Just like Pedrosa his race was virtually over after the first lap of the San Marino GP but the reigning World Champion is optimistic after the training sessions in Italy.
For the Repsol riders in the lower categories, Estoril is a circuit that suits the technical characteristics of their bikes. Being the slowest track in the championship both Julián Simón and Shuhei Aoyama in 250cc, as well as Esteve Rabat and Bradley Smith in 125cc are aware that they have a good chance of an excellent result this weekend.
Dani Pedrosa:
‘It will be good to go to Estoril and get down to work with the team again. A race like the one in Misano is very frustrating, especially when you can do nothing to avoid the problems you come across, and I know that my team is as anxious as I am to get the result we deserve in Portugal. My results at this circuit have not been my best, but I got pole twice and I think that we can be competitive if we get a good set up this weekend. The tyres will be very important again and the weather can play a crucial role too. It rains quite often there, but we have already seen a lot of water this season so I hope that it does not rain this weekend in Portugal. Obviously the memory from last year`s race is not so good, but we have got over that and we are going to tackle the race this weekend with normality. The objective is to continue getting close to the second place ion the championship.’
Nicky Hayden:
‘Well, we are going back to Portugal. I smile when I think about last year, I saw my dream of winning the crown slipping away from me in the crash. So it will be pleasant to make up for that this weekend. I have been suffering a lot this season and we have had bad luck too. And we have also made mistakes, so I am dying to get to Estoril and try to make everything work well. The weather is always unpredictable, which makes tyre selection on the Thursday really critical. I think that Michelin tyres function according to the weather conditions and we need to work on that to improve them. It would be good to find a good set up by the Friday morning and then just have to fine tune. Although if we have seen one thing this year it is that our bike needs a certain amount of time to get the right set up. My mechanics are doing a good job and we have made some progress in the last few races. I am not under the same pressure as last year, so I will try to have fun and see what we can do on the Sunday.’
Julián Simón:
‘Estoril is where I hope that I start to get good results again. I have now been in a few races where I had to work really hard to get among the leaders, so we are going to work as hard as possible to get back there. It is a circuit that I like a lot and it suits my riding style, I have always done quite well there. We are going to take advantage of that, work very hard and get a good result if we do things as well as we know we can.’
Shuhei Aoyama:
‘I like the circuit of Estoril. Last year I did not have bad sensations during the weekend, although at the end I was not able to finish the race as I had mechanical problems. Whatever, I like the circuit and after the races in Brno and Misano where things did not go well but where I felt fine on the bike, I am dying for the weekend to start.’
Bradley Smith:
‘Last year at Estoril they had just resurfaced the track and the conditions changed a little over the weekend, since at the beginning we did not have a lot of grip. We are certain to have more grip this year after all the bikes that have been riding there. But it is a circuit that I like. It has quite a lot of different features, like the slow curves, a chicane, and some long fast curves, especially the one at the end. This is a circuit where I enjoyed myself last year and even though I fell, up to that moment I had been riding quite fast and in a good position. So I am eager to get down to work.’
Esteve Rabat:
‘I am dying for the weekend at Estoril to arrive, becasue in the last race I did not get the result I expected and I am confident that I can do better and learn. Above all I am going to Portugal eager to ride, but I do not know how things will turn out, but I will do my best. This is a circuit that I like, where it is usuallly windy so we will have to look out for that. Moreover, there are many places to overtake’.
