After a long break, the MotoGP riders return this weekend for the Portugal GP. The Ducati team is preparing to due battle at Estoril this weekend, where Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden will look to score their first podiums of the 2011 MotoGP season.
Valentino Rossi has a pretty good track record at Estoril. Rossi has visited the Portugal track 11 times and has taken 5 victories and 5 more podiums there. But Rossi hasn’t been the best rider in Portugal as of late. His former teammate, Jorge Lorenzo, has won the last three races from the pole position at Estoril.
“With the postponement of the Japanese GP, we’ve had three weekends without a race, so I was able to ‘unplug’ for a while following the GP12 test at Jerez, although I continued training to help my physical recovery,” Rossi said. “Now we go to Estoril, a track I quite like, where we’ll continue working on the GP11’s setup.”
“The conditions are often unpredictable at Estoril because the area is very windy and close to the ocean, making for variable weather, especially in the spring. Anyway, although we saw at Jerez that we’re already competitive in the wet, we’re hoping for sun in Portugal so that we can make the most of our time on the track. We still have to understand the bike better, and to work on the setup with the goal of being faster in the dry in time for the most intense phase of the season, when we’ll have six races in eight weeks starting in June.”
Nicky Hayden is also anxious to get back on the track. Hayden has a best finish of fourth at Estoril, which he earned in 2007.
“On to Portugal! We’ve had three weeks off, which seems like a long time, so I’m looking forward to getting back with the team. Estoril has some pretty tight, narrow places, but I’d say my favorite part is the fast kink on the back straightaway.
“Now the season really gets rolling as we head into summer. I know the team’s been working hard... I can’t wait to get back to the track and back on the bike. Hopefully we can go and get a good result.”
