The MotoGP Portuguese Grand Prix at the coastal town of Estoril will begin the concluding quarter of the 2009 season, the first of four remaining rounds. 

Two things will bring excitement at round 14 of 17: The bwin.com Grande Premio de Portugal will be part of Valentino Rossi history, considering it will be his 100 appearance on a Yamaha factory machine, and fans will also see the return of Ducati Marlboro rider Casey Stoner, who has missed the last three races due to an illness that causes severe fatigue. 

Stoner spent the past three weeks recuperating in his native Australia, and due to his misses, he fell to fourth place in the championship standings, now 87 points behind points-leader Rossi.

“I hope to see Casey back in good form and fully recovered because the championship has missed him,” the 30-year-old Rossi said.

 

Stoner is hoping to regain his early season competiveness; he won at Losail International (Qatar) and Mugello at the beginning of the season, and also had three podiums. A press release by Ducati said Stoner will be back on track this weekend despite not being in peak condition, and he will remain under medical supervision throughout, with a new sodium-rich diet aimed at raising his blood pressure and muscular functionality.

“I’m definitely looking forward to the race weekend,” Stoner said. “Having three races off is the biggest period away from racing in my life. It was very difficult to accept the advice of the doctors to stop racing. Of course it’s going to be difficult: at first we won’t know if it will work because I’ve been off the bike so long that in any case my muscles will take some time to get race fit again.”

But the championship looks to be a battle between teammates. If lucky this weekend, “The Doctor” Rossi, who has a 30-point lead over Fiat Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo, may be on the way to his seventh title in the premier class, and his ninth career title. The Italian is riding the crest of victory after taking first at the latest round at Misano on home soil, his sixth win of the season.

And Rossi is no stranger to Estoril; he’s the most successful rider in Grand Prix history at the track, having stood on the podium on all of his nine visits, including five wins. Last year Rossi placed third, with his then-rookie teammate, the Spaniard Lorenzo, winning the race. Last year’s Estoril race was Lorenzo’s maiden MotoGP win in just his third premier class race. Lorenzo is coming off a second-place finish at Misano, and has three wins so far this season.

“In the past I was never strong there but last year I did an unbelievable race,” Lorenzo said, who had two DNFs at Donington and Brno earlier this summer. “This year it’s a different situation; a different time of year, everyone has the same tires and we are in the closing stages of the championship. My aim is to have a good weekend in order to keep the championship going.”

Third-place championship rider Dani Pedrosa has a challenge of staying ahead of the returning Stoner in the standings over the four remaining GP rounds. Estoril is one of four tracks on the current MotoGP calendar where the Repsol Honda rider has not had a victory, although he took second in the last two years of racing there.

The other Repsol Honda rider, Andrea Dovizioso, is in fifth place in the championship, ten points ahead of Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider Colin Edwards. Dovizioso has finished fourth in the last three races, with a victory at Donington. But he has also tasted victory at Estoril, winning the 250cc race three years ago. He crashed out last year during his debut MotoGP race at the circuit. Edwards best finish at Estoril is fourth.

Behind Edwards, Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki), Alex de Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini), Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) and Marco Melandri (Hayate Racing) complete the current MotoGP top ten.

The track itself contains four left- and nine right-handed turns, and one of the longest straights in MotoGP, but also one of the slowest corners. The track has some of the slowest twisty sections, and also the Parabolica corner, one of toughest in the series.

Located seven kilometers from the Atlantic Ocean, the Autodromo Fernanda Pires de Silva in October may have some dramatic changes in weather, quickly going from complete sunshine to blustery winds; temps are forecasted to be in the low 70s. The race takes place Oct. 2-4.