Pedrosa hopeful for Estoril, despite shoulder injury

Added on Wednesday, April 27th, 2011 by Carole Nash Editor | No Comments

Honda’s Dani Pedrosa is eager to get back on the track this coming weekend at Estoril and is hopeful that his recent shoulder injury won’t inhibit his performance.

The Spaniard managed to finish in second place at the last race at Jerez, while he was still suffering from a collarbone injury, but has subsequently had an operation to decompress his left subclavian artery, casting doubt on his performance potential.

The Spanish rider said: “Last week I had the stitches removed, so everything is very fresh and I don’t know how I will feel at Estoril. I’m excited to see if everything went well and if I can put these issues to one side once I’m on the bike.

“I did what I had to do in these three weeks off [since the Spanish Grand Prix] and I look forward to getting back on the bike.”

Pedrosa is hoping for fair weather at the Portuguese Grand Prix this weekend and is looking to make the most of the practice sessions, adding: “I want to make the most of the four practice sessions to prepare for the race. It would help if we have good weather, as this year we race in April, but you can never trust the weather there having the Atlantic Ocean so close.

“With regards to the circuit, Estoril has heavy braking zones and it will be important to find traction to take advantage of the good acceleration we have.”

Pedrosa’s teammate, Andrea Dovizioso, believes that the team won’t be able to take advantage of the RC212V’s straightline speed advantage on the windy track, saying: “The circuit is very slow with the corners and it’s not the best to ride with a MotoGP machine, in fact, one of the more difficult tasks is to manage the power of the RC212V on this slow track,”

Despite not being in 100% health, Pedrosa is still aiming for a podium finish this coming weekend, and is currently 9 points behind Jorge Lorenzo, who is topping the leaderboard.

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