Rossi: Ready for anything.

From Crash.net



Last October's exciting triumph over Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner marked the end of an era, being the Italian's last with Michelin tyres fitted to his Fiat Yamaha.

Having finished second to Pedrosa last time out at Jerez, the five time MotoGP world champion will now be aiming for nothing less than his first Bridgestone victory this weekend - as he also seeks to end a six-race losing steak, Rossi's longest since his debut 2000 season.

"Estoril last year was a great race; it was a fantastically close battle with Pedrosa and one of the high points of the season for us. It's also the last time I won a race and I hope that this is something we can repeat again this time!" said Rossi.

"Jerez was a very important race for us, second place in just our second race with Bridgestone and following the difficult result in Qatar it was very important, plus it gave confidence to everyone involved that our package is really coming together.

"Our bike was very strong and our tyres worked well until the end, then on Monday we had a test and were able to make some more important steps forward with Bridgestone. We have been working step by step but everyone is very focused and motivated and confidence is running high. Hopefully we are now ready to fight for the win!"

Rossi is the most successful rider in Grand Prix history at Estoril, having finished on the podium on each of his eight visits to the circuit, including five race victories.

"Portugal is usually a good track for us and I've had a lot of very good races there, especially with Yamaha. It's a different time of year to when we raced there last year so the conditions might be a little different, but I think that we're going to be ready for anything!" he concluded.

After opening rounds held at Qatar and Jerez, teams and riders will tackle Estoril without the aid of any pre-season testing data.

"We have good memories of Estoril because it is the scene of Valentino's last victory, but we are actually expecting this grand prix to be quite tough for us," claimed Rossi's team manager Davide Brivio. "Anyway, Valentino likes the track and we go there on the back of a good race at Jerez and a very positive test so our intention is to fight.

"We tried some new tyres during the Jerez test that may be useful for this weekend but mainly the idea was to continue the job of adapting the bike and the Bridgestone tyres to each other and we made some small steps forward with this.

"We think the temperatures will be lower at this time of the year than they were when we last visited Portugal and it is always windy there so we're expecting the conditions to be more like Jerez last weekend than Estoril last year. If that's the case then we should be competitive and the fans can enjoy another great weekend of racing!" he concluded.

Was it? I'm sure it wasn't if my memory serves me well....but saying that I am old so thing could be slipping in the sanity stakes.

Thanks for the article Tommm.....I have faith in Valentino at this track....I have him down as standing on the top step of the podium at Estoril, with Toseland second and Lorenzo third.

Who do you all think will be on the podium at Estoril?

no ang, he's right....vale won in estoril, i remember cuz i was tehre. yaaaaaaaay. everytime i attend a gp he does well......do you guys think that'd work as a valuable argument when asking for a yearly paddock pass? hahaha.

my podium guess: vale :D, lorenzo, dovi.

just because it'd be too easy to write stoner or dani.......

Estoril was near the end of the season last year Angela, thats why the statistic seems a bit misleading.

You must have been reading my mind Tommm - when I first read about that being his last win I thought "Nooooooo, surely not" because I was assuming it must have been early on in the season like it is now. Panic over, for now.
PS Thanks for the article.

That's right they have changed it from the back end of the race calendar to the beginning this year haven't they. It was when Vale dedicated the race win to poor Colin McRae wasn't it...or am I totally off yet again?

Great race last season and next would be again....
if he's ready then, that would be no problemo............
thanks for the news tomm.....

from Yamaha:

Fiat Yamaha riders Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo head to Europe's Atlantic coast this weekend as they look to build on a positive start to the season with another bountiful points-haul at Estoril. The eleventh edition of the Grand Prix of Portugal is the third round of the 2008 MotoGP World Championship and is an event that has seen contrasting fortunes for the Italian and the Spaniard in the past.

Rossi is the most successful rider in Grand Prix history at Estoril, having finished on the podium on each of his eight visits to the circuit, including five race victories. The 29-year-old hopes to round that figure up to a half dozen on Sunday as he targets a repeat of his hard-fought victory at the circuit last October. That win was Rossi's most recent, making for a six-race run without an appearance on the top step of the podium - his longest since his debut win in 2000.

Estoril is one of only four circuits on the current calendar where Jorge Lorenzo has previously raced that he has not had a victory in any Grand Prix class. It is also one of only two current circuits where the 21-year-old has not had a pole position, but after starting from the front of the grid and finishing on the podium in each of the opening two races of his MotoGP career he has nothing to fear this weekend.
Whilst last year's race was run in ambient temperatures of 28ºC, the spring climate on the Portuguese coast averages in the low 20s, although the location of the Estoril circuit is just seven kilometres from the Atlantic and it is notorious for dramatic changes in weather, with spells of warm sunshine often interrupted by wild gusts of cold wind and rain. The layout of the Autodromo Fernanda Pires de Silva is similarly contrasting, featuring one of the longest main straights in MotoGP and one of the slowest corners. Several other twisty sections make for the low est average speed in the championship but the 200km/h kink at turn five and the final Parabolica corner are two of the toughest tests of any rider's skill and bravery.


Valentino Rossi - "Ready for anthing"
"Estoril last year was a great race; it was a fantastically close battle with Pedrosa and one of the high points of the season for us. It's also the last time I won a race and I hope that this is something we can repeat again this time! Jerez was a very important race for us, second place in just our second race with Bridgestone and following the difficult result in Qatar it was very important, plus it gave confidence to everyone involved that our package is really coming together. Our bike was very strong and our tyres worked well until the end, then on Monday we had a test and were able to make some more important steps forward with Bridgestone. We have been working step by step but everyone is very focused and motivated and confidence is running high.
Hopefully we are now ready to fight for the win! Portugal is usually a good track for us and I've had a lot of very good races there, especially with Yamaha. It's a different time of year to when we raced there last year so the conditions might be a little different, but I think that we're going to be ready for anything!"


Davide Brivio - Team manager Valentino Rossi
"We have good memories of Estoril because it is the scene of Valentino's last victory, but we are actually expecting this Grand Prix to be quite tough for us. Anyway, Valentino likes the track and we go there on the back of a good race at Jerez and a very positive test so our intention is to fight. We tried some new tyres during the Jerez test that may be useful for this weekend but mainly the idea was to continue the job of adapting the bike and the Bridgestone tyres to each other and we made some small steps forward with this. We think the temperatures will be lower at this time of the year than they were when we last visited Portugal and it is always windy there so we're expecting the conditions to be more like Jerez last weekend than Estoril last year. If that's the case then we should be competitive and the fans can enjoy another great weekend of racing."

I hope this time gonna be 'the rise of the phoenix'....
Rossi's back in bussiness!!!!

1- Vale2- Dani3- Casey- Hope it remains the same in championship aswell...