An atypical three-week break in the closing stages of the MotoGP World Championship - caused by the cancellation of the Hungarian GP - means that the world’s elite motorcycling teams and riders return to action this weekend for the first in a four-race finale that starts and finishes in Europe, with flying trips to Australia and Malaysia sandwiched between shorter jaunts to Portugal and Spain.
The Estoril circuit near the Portuguese holiday resort of Cascais welcomes an intriguing battle for the title between Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo and an intense scrap for positions throughout the pack, with San Carlo Honda Gresini Team riders Alex de Angelis and Toni Elias well placed and in the right form to improve on their current championship placings of eighth and twelfth respectively.
Elias has had particular reason to look forward to this race, having taken his only career MotoGP victory at Estoril back in 2006. The Spaniard has taken top six finishes in four of the last six races, including a podium in the Czech Republic, and is eager to pick up where he left off after spending much of the enforced break training and relaxing in northern Spain.
De Angelis has also had Estoril very much on his mind over the last three weeks as he looks forward to banishing the memory of a second-corner crash in the most recent race at Misano. The San Marino rider’s first DNF of the season came on the back of his debut MotoGP podium at Indianapolis – one of three top five finishes in the last fives races – and he is confident of recovering his good form at a circuit where he scored podiums in both the 125cc and 250cc classes.
# 15 Alex De Angelis
“I’ve been training hard over the break and taking out my frustrations of the last race at Misano, when I crashed at the end of an otherwise positive weekend. It left a bitter taste in my mouth but I am in great form at the moment and at a circuit like Estoril, where I always went well in the smaller classes, I know I can put things right. Unfortunately last year I had a 39°C fever and it was a miracle that I made it to the end of the race. This year I go to Portugal with everything in my favour because I am starting to get the full potential out of my bike and the typically changeable conditions at Estoril won’t worry me because we have already proved that we can be fast both in the wet and in the dry.”
# 24 Toni Elias
“I’ve spent this unusual and long break in training, having fun cycling in Zarauz in the Basque Country and surfing along the wonderful 20km-long beach at San Sebastian with my good friend Carlos Arguiñano, one of the best and most famous chefs in Spain. I also went to watch the Andorra Supermoto Grand Prix and spent a day with Mikko Hirvonen, the current World Rally Champion, riding with him in his WRC car, which was incredibly exciting. Naturally I was constantly thinking about getting back to competitive action myself and the next race at Estoril, where I won in 2006. It’s a circuit I love and where I hope to be amongst the frontrunners again. I’m in good form and my feeling with the bike is great so I can’t be anything but optimistic about this one.”
Fausto Gresini
“Estoril is the scene of our most recent MotoGP victory so it is obviously a track we hold close to our hearts. Toni Elias’ victory over Valentino Rossi is a wonderful memory and I’m sure he can be a frontrunner again in this race. He is in good form and extremely determined to show his ability. Alex, on the other hand, is determined to put the DNF at Misano behind him and he can do that because he is also in good form and I don’t expect him to disappoint. He has improved a lot recently and one mistake at Misano does not wipe out all the progress he has made this year. The team is doing a very professional job and will continue to give our riders their full support right up until the chequered flag at Valencia. Even though the future of our team lies elsewhere, the present is Elias and De Angelis and we want to continue giving them the tools to be frontrunners in MotoGP until the final races of the season.”
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