2011 MotoGP action comes alive at Estoril, Portugal – Preview
MotoGP events had a long no-action time due to the Japanese disaster, which postponed the Motegi Twin circuit GP late in the season to October 2, 2011.
The bwin Grande Premio de Portugal on May 1 will be held at Estoril circuit, it is the third round of the 2011 MotoGP calendar, after the season opener at Qatar and second at Spain. This is the 14th time the Portuguese Grand Prix is being
held.
The second round of Spain, Gran Premio bwin de Espana on the Jerez circuit, gave many things to discuss on the race panel and analyse the season by the experts. The defending world champion Jorge Lorenzo of the Yamaha Factory team, made his first victory
of the 2011 season, followed by Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa in second place and Ducati’s Nicky Hayden on the third place at the podium. Lorenzo’s Jerez victory in wet conditions and a second place finish at the season inaugural round on Losail track made
the Spaniard to lead the world championship standings.
Casey Stoner of Repsol Honda was swept off from the victory run, when an eager Valentino Rossi pushing too hard for the lead, slipping into the Australian’s bike and knocking him off the race.
However, Rossi was able to restart the race and made a poor fifth place finish behind Hiroshi Aoyama of San Carlo Honda Gresini who was at fourth. Rossi’s restart was less interesting comparatively to his run before the crash, where he started at 12th place
on the grid and shortly hopped to fight for the lead.
Casey Stoner was the pole position conqueror at Qatar and Spain Grands Prix. With a victory in the first round of the 2011 season, he was called the undefeated champion of MotoGP 2011.
Stoner has been able to stand on the podium of Estoril twice in his MotoGP career, but has not yet bagged a victory at the venue in premier class. The Honda RC212V was dominating time charts during the mid-season winter testing sessions, but the wet
and greasy conditions changed the scenario and the Yamaha Factory team did better than them.
The Yamaha Factory rider Jorge Lorenzo has an intimidating record at the Portuguese Estoril track. He has been winning for the last three years starting from the pole positions in all races. The Spanish rider has managed to finish inside the top-four
places in 22 straight races and now leads the season with 9 points from second placed rider Dani Pedrosa.
Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa has suffered from a severe left arm-pump issue, when he was hindered by lack of strength and numbness during the first round at Losail. Pedrosa feels the surgery he had immediately after the Jerez round will help him in
relieving the pain he had to face.
Honda’s Spanish rider despite of his arm weakness scored his 90th podium place in GP, which makes him only the tenth rider to score the number in the category over the 63 years pedigree of the MotoGP World Championship.
Ducati team’s Nicky Hayden is the fastest on GP11 and stands on the fourth place in the championship standings followed by his teammate Valentino Rossi, who is just three points behind.
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