Ducati team hoping for sunshine at Estoril
Added on Thursday, April 28th, 2011 by Carole Nash Editor | No Comments
Ducati team hoping for sunshine at Estoril
After putting in a competitive performance during the wet spell at Jerez last weekend, you might be forgiven for thinking that Italian rider Valentino Rossi would be hoping for a downpour at Estoril, but the rider is hoping for sunshine to continue his successful run.
Last weekend Rossi pulled a great performance out of his helmet – quickly moving up from twelfth on the grid up to fourth in the space of only a few laps, and managed to move into third by lap seven. Unfortunately, the Ducati rider crashed out, after trying to pass points leader Casey Stoner – putting them both out of the race.
Despite the accident, Rossi’s performance in the wet at the Spanish MotoGP was his best as a Ducati rider, but it looks like the Italian is hoping for brighter weather at this weekend’s Portuguese race.
He said: “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,”
“Now we go to Estoril, a track I quite like, where we’ll continue working on the GP11′s setup, particularly during the test on Monday.
“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.”
Rossi is expected to test both chassis and engine developments at the one day test, to help improve his speed in the dry. He has a good track record at the Estoril track, and finished on the podium in second place last year in the 2010 season.
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