Four weeks after the second round of the World Championship, held at the Spanish circuit of Jerez at the beginning of this month, the competition will resume again at the Iberian peninsula, this time with the Portuguese Grand Prix. Dani Pedrosa, Casey Stoner and Andrea Dovizioso -in MotoGP-, and Marc Márquez -in Moto2-, will get again on their bikes with full motivation after a break forced by the delay of the Spanish Grand Prix.
This nearly four weeks allowed Dani Pedrosa to undergo surgery in order to try and solve the problems on his left shoulder that affected his performance on the first two races, although he achieved two podiums. The Repsol rider arrives to this new round in second place of the championship and relief to have found a solution for his problemas, although he is cautious after the surgery.
His team mates Casey Stoner and Andrea Dovizioso also see the Estoril race as an opportunity to be among the fastest after the bad luck they had in Jerez. The Repsol riders are optimists about a round where they will try to take advantage of the strong points of their Honda RC212V, and recover the competitiveness the showed both in the preseason and in the first round in Qatar.
In the intermediate category, Marc Márquez will return to the setting of his most epic victory last season, this time with a Moto2. The Repsol rider showed his talent and determination to maintain his options to the title in a track where he was able to test during the preseason, although he could not draw many conclusions due to the ever-changing weather on the Atlantic Coast.
Dani Pedrosa:
“I did what I had to do in these three weeks off and I look forward to get back on the bike after this period which has been good for me to undergo surgery and start rehabilitation. Last week I had the stitches removed, so everything is still very fresh and I don’t know how I will feel in Estoril, but I’m excited to see if everything went well and if I can put the issues aside once on the bike. It would be very good because we had a good start to the season and I wish to compete in the best conditions. I want to make the most of the four practice sessions to prepare for the race.It would help if we have good weather, as this year we race in April, but you can never trust the weather there having the Atlantic Ocean so close. With regards to the circuit, Estoril has heavy braking zones and it will be important to find traction to take advantage of the good acceleration we have”.
Andrea Dovizioso:
“I am looking forward to the race in Estoril, it’s a track where I have had very good results in my career. I arrive motivated, and want to get back to form after the Jerez weekend with a good race and to show the results of all the positive work done with the team. I think that we will be competitive at Estoril. The circuit is very slow and it’s not the best to ride with a MotoGP machine, in fact, one of the more difficult tasks is to manage the power of the RC212V on this slow track.We will have 4 practice sessions to work on the set up and it’s important to start well from the first day. After this long break, I’m happy to return on track. I have enjoyed this period at home with my family, having time to relax but also time to dedicate to training and to do the preparation of the coming races. Now it’s time to jump on the bike”.
Casey Stoner:
“I had a good rest in Switzerland and I feel very good at the moment. I’m looking forward to Portugal after a difficult last race in Jerez, we were looking for a good result in Spain after positive practice sessions and qualifying so we are happy to get back on track. Estoril is not one of my favourite tracks but we have had good success there in the past. We will be looking to get back some points against Lorenzo as he has been the strongest there in the past 3 years. I think our bike should work quite well at this circuit as it has some tight turns with exits onto big straights so I hope to find some good traction in these points and be competitive from the first day”.
Marc Márquez:
“This little break was good for us as we were able to rest and think about the beginning of the Championship, but also train and improve our form, doing a bit of supermotard, gym and bicycle. The team also took advantage of it to arrive in the best form after the intense start of the championship. The Portuguese Grand Prix brings both good and bad memories, as last year I had moments where the Championship was nearly lost and it was also a decisive race. With the Moto2 we tested here during the preseason, but the weather was not good and we could not reach any conclusion. It is a very different track from the ones we already competed in, so we will start from scratch. We will try to get used to the track and see what we can do”.
