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Fiat Yamaha Team ready to put up western front |
Fiat
Yamaha Team ready to put up western front
Estoril
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.
Valentino Rossi - "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!"
Colin Edwards - "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."
Davide Brivio - "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
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