14: Grand Prix of Portugal in Estoril (News) - TheYellowCommunity.com - Valentino Rossi

**MAK** · **14: Grand Prix of Portugal in Estoril (News) -** 07.09.2007, 16:24

Event: Grand Prix of Portugal - Preview
Date: 14th, 15th & 16th September

FIAT YAMAHA TEAM READY TO PUT UP WESTERN FRONT

The Fiat Yamaha Team make the Mediterranean road trip from the east coast of Italy to the west coast of Portugal this week aiming to put their biggest disappointment of the season behind them after a home Grand Prix to forget at Misano. Valentino Rossi's retirement from that race was his fourth non-podium finish in as many races - his worst run since 2000 - whilst tyre problems returned to haunt Colin Edwards in a race that saw Casey Stoner take his eighth victory of the season.

With 85 points now separating Stoner from Rossi at the top of the championship and just five races remaining it appears that the 2007 is almost out of reach, but until the mathematics confirm it the Fiat Yamaha Team will refuse to wave the white flag - especially with a circuit like Estoril on the horizon. Its location on the western tip of Europe, just seven kilometres from the Atlantic coast, makes it vulnerable to dramatic changes in weather and high gusts of wind, meaning the riders can take nothing for granted.
Even the layout of Autodromo Fernanda Pires de Silva circuit is one of extreme contrasts. It features one of the longest main straights in MotoGP and a tight chicane, which is one of the slowest corners on the calendar. Several other twisty sections contribute to the lowest average speed in the championship and the throttle is seldom overworked on the tortuous infield sections, which are riddled by a host of second and third gear bends. However, the 200km/h kink at turn five and the final Parabolica corner are two of the toughest tests of any rider and machine's cornering prowess and make for exciting viewing.

"WE'LL TRY TO WIN ALL FIVE!"

As well as having a score to settle after his disappointment at Misano, Valentino Rossi has extra reason to look forward to Estoril thanks to his fantastic record at the Portuguese circuit in the premier class. The Italian has finished on the podium on each of his seven visits, including a sequence of four successive victories from 2001 to 2004, and narrowly missed out on adding to that win tally last season when he was beaten to the line by Toni Elias by just 0.002 seconds.
"Misano was a great, great disappointment," said Rossi. "To not have the chance to fight and to finish after just a few laps was a terrible thing, but now we just have to put it behind us. We got back to work straight away on Monday for the test and we did some really good work with Michelin - it seems that they found some good new tyres and overall it was quite an encouraging test, much more than the last one. Hopefully we will be ready in Estoril with a package with which we can fight.
"To be honest the championship is almost out of reach for us, especially when Stoner is so strong, so we will put all our energies into holding onto our second place and winning as many races as possible, as well as thinking about continuing the development of our package for next year. Now the aim is to have a good end to the season - we have five races left and we will be trying to win all five, even if the championship is out of our reach. I've had some good races at Estoril in the past although last year I missed out on the win by a tiny amount!"

"A LOT MORE CONFIDENT"

Colin Edwards had one of his best weekends of 2006 at Estoril, finishing just off the podium in fourth place. The Texan qualified second on the grid and crossed the line less than a second behind the race winner - a performance he would love to have the opportunity to repeat this time around.
"Misano was another bad day at the office but we learnt a lot at the test on Monday and I think it was really the most positive one we've had all year," said Edwards. "We really seemed to get onto something with Michelin and I think everyone felt that we were finally making some good steps forward. We've got a lot of work to do and it's not going to change overnight but I think we're all feeling a lot more confident for the next race than we did after the Brno test.
"There's only five races left and the championship hasn't panned out for myself or Valentino like we hoped, but we've got a great team and everyone will keep working as hard as they can to give us all something to be happy about over the final races. I'm determined to turn things around in Estoril, I had a good race last year and only just missed out on the podium and I'll be looking to make up for that this time around."

"IT'S NOT OVER YET"

Fiat Yamaha Team Director Davide Brivio is remaining upbeat despite recognising the size of the challenge that lies ahead over the next five races. With an 85-point gap to the championship summit, Brivio admits that the title is a fading target and says the more immediate concern is to get Rossi and Edwards back at the business end of the field after a run of four races without a podium. "It's not over yet but we know that a gap of 85 points to such a strong rival package will be very, very difficult to recover," admits Brivio. "All we can do is take it race buy race and try to put Valentino and Colin in a position to fight for race victories and podiums as soon as possible. That will be our goal for Estoril, where we have been very competitive in the past with both riders.
"First of all we have to hope that the tyres are competitive and from there on we can try. The test at Misano was positive so hopefully that improved performance carries over to Estoril. We know we have a rider who is capable of winning races and he deserves to be winning much more than he is now so we can only try our best to give him the equipment he needs to do that."

Valentino Rossi : Information
Age: 28
Lives: London, UK
Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1
GP victories: 87 (61 x MotoGP/500cc, 14 x 250cc, 12 x 125cc)
First GP victory: Czech Republic, 1996 (125cc)
First GP: Malaysia, 1996 (125cc)
GP starts: 187 (127 x MotoGP/500cc, 30 x 250cc, 30 x 125cc)
Pole positions: 49
World Championships: 7 Grand Prix (1 x 125cc, 1 x 250cc, 1 x 500cc, 4 x MotoGP)

Colin Edwards: Information Age: 33
Lives: Conroe, Texas
Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1
First GP: Japón, 2003 (MotoGP)
GP starts: 79 x MotoGP
World Championships: 2 World Superbike

Estoril: Lap Record
K. Roberts JR (Honda) 2006, 1'37.914

Estoril: Best Lap
V. Rossi (Yamaha) 2006, 1'26.200

Grand Prix Results: Estoril 2006

1.T. Elias (Honda) 46'08.739
2.V. Rossi (Yamaha) +0.002
3.K. Roberts JR (Team Roberts) +0.176
4.C. Edwards (USA) Yamaha +0.864

Alessandra · 07.09.2007, 18:51

Grazie, MAK!!!

Glad to hear Vale hasn`t lost motivation, that he is determined to fight each race...
I`m sure that with such strong will for victory, he`ll certainly win!

Laetitia · 07.09.2007, 19:10

Yea, great quote from Vale and Brivio..

Vale- Now the aim is to have a good end to the season - we have five races left and we will be trying to win all five, even if the championship is out of our reach.

Brivio--We know we have a rider who is capable of winning races and he deserves to be winning much more than he is now so we can only try our best to give him the equipment he needs to do that."

gosdhee46 · 07.09.2007, 19:12

ohhh its good to hear such a good news,even if he wont take the championship,ı'd like to see vale's win all next races..ıt 'll makes me happy..

The nightnurse · 07.09.2007, 19:43

Thanks MAK,i will be there in Estoril so i'm looking forward to see Valentino fight !!!!!

viola_motogal · 07.09.2007, 20:36

and fight he will... he is the undisputed king of motogp... no matter what anyone has to say... this guy can stay in contention when his bike is crap... when his tyres seem to be coming apart in shreds....

that is truly awesome... Forza Vale

and Thanks a bunch MAK

Akirazx7 · 07.09.2007, 21:12

Thanks for posting the above article here, I had just finishing reading this same article on SuperBikePlanet and was thrilled to hear Vale confirming what he already said "we have five races left and we will be trying to win all five, even if the championship is out of reach".

Knew he wouldn't finish up the session without giving his all.

I am excited about to watch the rest of the races this session.

**Staind** · 07.09.2007, 21:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Akirazx7

"we have five races left and we will be trying to win all five, even if the championship is out of reach".

I'd realy liked that..
than even if he'd lose the Championship
he'd have at least as many races as stoner

I just pray stoner won't beat doohan and get more victories than 12 this year..

Michelin Previews Estoril
by staff
Friday, September 07, 2007 From Michelin
MICHELIN ENCOURAGED BY POSITIVE TESTS
Estoril is the slowest MotoGP track on the calendar - with a lap record of just 153.7km/h-95.5mph - but it's by no means an easy circuit for tyre manufacturers. Michelin goes into the Portuguese Grand Prix aiming to fight back from a run of difficult races. Post-race tests at Misano earlier this month were encouraging, Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha Team YZR-M1-Michelin) commenting that "Michelin has done a good job recently, we found some very interesting things with the new tyres we tried, the tests were definitely much more positive than the tests we did at Brno."
Rossi's positive feedback followed a luckless Misano GP that had Michelin's fastest three qualifiers out of the running in the first few laps - Rossi suffering mechanical problems and Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda Team RC212V-Michelin) and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team RC212V-Michelin) the innocent victims of a first-lap incident. Nevertheless, Rossi and Pedrosa still hold second and third places in the World Championship points standings, while Hayden has climbed the points ladder with three podiums from the four races preceding Misano.

MICHELIN AND THE TECHNICAL CHALLENGE OF ESTORIL
"The tests at Misano went quite well, we were quite happy with the lap times, we learned a lot and Yamaha and Honda worked well with us," says Jean-Philippe Weber, Michelin's director of motorcycle racing. "The tests helped us find some interesting directions for development and also allowed us to get a lot more information about Misano. We hadn't been there before the GP, and with our three fastest riders out of luck in the race, it was extremely useful for us to get some more track time.

"During the tests we continued our work on the new construction tyres we first used during the post-Czech GP tests at Brno. Four of our riders raced the new construction at Misano, including Valentino. Our main focus at the tests was obtaining more data on compounds with the new construction rear which is designed to improve edge grip and traction. The construction is a bit stiffer than before, so while most of our riders already like the tyre, some still prefer the softer construction; as always it comes down to riding style and machine character. Choice of construction also depends on the circuit - I think the stiffer construction should work well at Estoril, though maybe the softer construction will be better at somewhere like Motegi where riders don't spend so much time at maximum lean.

"Two of our riders raced with the new profile front at Misano and most of them tested the tyre the day after the race. We were working with compounds again, and the Yamaha guys especially appreciated the new tyre. We expect three or four riders will use this tyre at Estoril - Carlos (Checa, Honda LCR RC212V-Michelin) wasn't sure after the tests, he has still to decide which profile he prefers.

"Estoril is going to be really different from Misano. The surface isn't in very good condition, it's bumpy and the grip level will be much lower, although I believe they have resurfaced a couple of parts of the track. It is quite an asymmetric circuit with a lot of right-handers and not so many lefts, so we have to work to make sure our riders have the best grip through both the rights and the lefts. The right side of the tyre has to work quite hard at Estoril, especially though the final right-hander which is very, very long, with riders using a lot of throttle and spending a lot of time at maximum lean."

il dottore · 07.09.2007, 22:51

Staind dear, tnx

This is great i really think that we have a great chances in Estoril.
Hope Vale wins all 5 races until the end!

**Staind** · 07.09.2007, 23:01

yeah that would be perfect if he could win all of them..
and if he doesn't then at least the one in philli and the one
when stoner gets the championship.. spoiling the party

where have u been by the way, il dottore
haven't seen u for some time..