The Portuguese GP, first of the four left this year, is the setting for the return of the championship this weekend, almost a month after the last round held at Misano in San Marino. And so Dani Pedrosa, who was 24 yesterday, and his teammate, Andrea Dovizioso, will start their intense run in to the end of the season this Friday; then in two weeks in Australia, then Malaysia, with the finale at the Circuito Ricardo Tormo, the Comunidad Valenciana GP on 8th November.
This will be a final sprint and Dani Pedrosa is in tip-top form, and ambitious enough to think about winning. After a difficult season, conditioned by his injuries, the Repsol rider will be very motivated for the last few races, having demonstrated that he can be in the fight for the podium in the four races that are left. Pedrosa, second in last year`s race not only aims to win more valuable points, he is 3rd overall at the moment, but he also aims to leave his mark on a difficult, demanding circuit.
Since his victory at Donington Park, Andrea Dovizioso has finished fourth three times on the trot, showing all the consistency he is famous for. The Repsol rider will fight to take another step forward in this category, to be in the battle for the podium at a track where he has got good results in the past, like the victory he got in 2006. After a break of three weeks he is dying to get back to work and to improve his performance on his Repsol Honda RC212V.
For Marc Márquez, Esteve Rabat, Scott Redding and Cameron Beaubier the race in Portugal will be a chance to start the run-in with some good sensations. For Márquez, it will be a return to the circuit where he made his debut in the World Championship, and with all the experience he has gained since then he is hoping to finish among the leaders. For his teammate, Cameron Beaubier, the situation is just the opposite: another weekend of learning, at a circuit where he was two years ago in the Rookies Cup, his objective will be to learn some more and fight to get among the points. Scott Redding and Esteve Rabat will tackle the race calmly and with the objective of getting their bikes over the finishing line, after a few races where their results have not been at the level of their expectations.
Dani Pedrosa
“It’s been quite a long break since the last race and I really enjoyed it – combining time to relax as well as taking the opportunity to put in some good training. It’s unusual to have three weeks off at this stage of the year, but now it’s time to get back on track and I’m very much looking forward to facing the last part of the season. We need to be very focused from the first practice on Friday to prepare the bike as much a possible for this race. At this track you need a machine that performs well on the brakes and over the bumps and is able to maintain good rear grip. It’s quite a tough track from a riding point of view, but I feel confident on this front because physically I’m in really good condition now. We’ll see how the weather is compared to last year when we raced in April. I have good memories from 2008 when we managed to finish second even though we had mixed conditions on Sunday with some light showers at the beginning of the race. Obviously I would prefer to have stable weather and dry conditions, but whatever happens I’m looking forward to getting back on track.”
Andrea Dovizioso
“Estoril is a track where I have achieved some good results and I’m really looking forward to getting back on the bike after this long break. Last year’s race here was looking going well for me too, and I was fighting with Lorenzo, Pedrosa and Valentino before I crashed, so I have a positive feeling coming into this weekend and I’m confident I can have a good race. It’s a very slow circuit and some parts are a bit tight and narrow for MotoGP machines. This means it’s not easy to tame these bikes around here and it takes a while to understand how to approach the track and fully exploit the MotoGP bike’s performance. At the last race at Misano we collected important data on the way to fourth place and the team and I have some ideas of how to further improve the machine set-up with the Ohlins suspension. I‘m really curious to see how these new setting solutions will work out. We’re feeling confident for the final four races of the season and I’m definitely looking forward to racing at Estoril.”
Marc Márquez
“The truth is that I was missing the competition, because this break has been quite long and I have only ridden a bike on one day. I have been working on the physical side of things, but I also took advantage of the break to rest, and I had to do some schoolwork. I will take things calmly because after such a long time you have to recover your pace and get used to the bike again. Last year it took me quite a bit of time to get used to Estoril but it was my first race of the season. That is because I had been injured and the Portuguese GP was the first race of the year. I hope that things go much better this year, but we know that it is a circuit where you have to brake a lot, and in general it is quite slow, except the final section. The last section, after the chicane on the upward slope so characteristic of the circuit, has quite a fast technical part.”
Esteve Rabat
“I am ready for the next race after the break. I took things calmly because I feel quite fit and I did some supermotard, cycling and work in the gym in the mornings, I rested in the afternoons, with my friends clearing my mind for the run-in. I like the circuit of Estoril and we have data from the pre-season sessions, so I think we can have a good weekend. I hope we can work together with the team from the very beginning, and do some good work that brings good results on the Sunday. We have to get a good result in the four races that are left this season.”
Scott Redding
“The Portuguese GP is not one of my favourite circuits, but then again it is not one of the worst, and I think we can do well there. We practised there in the pre-season and saw immediately that the RSA was better than the RSW that we used last year. I hope to get a good set up, but above all finish the race. If we do not have any strange problems I think we can have a good weekend, and having a good end to the season would be important both for me as well as for the team. I am fit after having done some motocross and physical work, so from the practice on Friday we will be working to find the best set up that will let us put in a good race.”
Cameron Beaubier
“The break gave me time to be at home, that is always good, because it is not always easy to come and go to the USA, but I am dying to get back on the bike again. I have been training, I did a lot of motocross and some cycling on the roads, but I also spent some time with my family and friends. I am fully fit for the last few races, so we will have to work hard to try and get some more points. I was in Estoril two years ago and it is a circuit I like quite a lot. The first section, the fast final zone with the long curve made me suffer a bit, but this weekend I will try to follow the others to learn about the best lines to take, and so be able to go faster and faster.”
