At the end of the day it does not matter who the winner is if we see a race as good as the one in Portugal. Even more so if the two Repsol riders are among the first four. The race in Portugal was important since both Nicky and Dani had got a bad result in Misano, and they had a bad experience there last year. So the two were dying to put in a good perforamance.
Friday went as planned. We worked on some adjustments so as to adapt the bike to the characteristics of the circuit, and we did some tyre tests to find and decide on the best option for the race. We still had a lot to do on the Saturday. This time we had different front tyres to choose from, with two types that worked quite well, but we could not afford to get it wrong. In the afternoon after the magnificent pole time set by Nicky, things became a little clearer. We had chosen the right tyre.
Because this year the pole is very expensive, and everything has to be perfect so that Stoner does not get it. Nicky clearly though that the pole was just another step, but the race was lying in wait for us, and he knew that the pace would be high and that he could not relax. In the warm up it started to rain, although not enough to make the track wet enough for the wet set up. Until a couple of laps later the riders could not find what would be the pace set in the race, which was going to be quite high. The lights turned green and everybody watching immediately knew that we were going to see a good old–fashioned race.
Even with traction control smoke was coming from the tyres on two curves, especially the final one and the late braking was very hair-raising. Nicky did not have one of his best starts, and he had to fight so that he did not lose touch with the leading group that would supply the winner. The pace did not slack, Nicky set the fastest lap and got closer but with a few laps left he made a small mistake and at that moment he was out of the race for the victory.We are taking a lot of positives from Portugal: the pole, the fastest race lap, good sensations and a race that had nothing to envy those in 125cc and 250cc.
