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Rizla Suzuki MotoGP aim for further reward at Estoril |
Rizla Suzuki MotoGP aim for further reward at Estoril
Rizla Suzuki MotoGP travels to the Atlantic coast of Portugal for round
14 of the
MotoGP World Championship this week, fresh from the fantastic double
podium earned
at the last round in Misano.
Chris Vermeulen took his second podium position in three races at the
last event and
John Hopkins's third position gave Suzuki a tally of seven podium places
this season
– including the runners-up position in the last three races. The Team's
total of 284
points so far this year is the biggest the Suzuki squad has earned since
the
introduction of four-stroke regulations.
Vermeulen will be making only his second visit to the Estoril circuit,
but is buoyed
by his recent performances and determined to hold onto his fourth place
and close
down on third placed Dani Pedrosa in the riders' championship. Vermeulen
had a good
first visit to Estoril last year finishing in a positive ninth place
after
qualifying in 12th and running off the track and having to re-join the
race.
Hopkins was the first Bridgestone rider across the line last season with
a sixth
placed finish after being the highest qualifying Bridgestone-shod racer
- also with
a sixth position on the grid. He is enjoying his best-ever season in
MotoGP and is
looking to open his MotoGP victory account in Portugal. Hopkins is on a
high at the
moment and is sure that Estoril gives him an excellent chance of
standing on the top
step.
The 4,182m long Estoril circuit is situated approximately 30kms from
Lisbon, near
the coastal resort of Cascais. The track is located very high up and
with the
Atlantic Ocean so close, gale-force winds are not an uncommon occurrence
during a
race weekend. The layout of the circuit is very much one of contrasts,
with a
kilometre long straight, two very fast corners and one of the slowest
parts of any
track on the MotoGP calendar, so tyre choice will be a huge
consideration for the
weekend to cope with the possibility of low grip levels on the surface
that can be
caused by the dirt blown across it by the strong winds.
Practice for Sunday's race gets underway on Friday with two free
sessions. Saturday
will have another free session before the riders take to the track in
the afternoon
for an hour of qualifying. The 28-lap main event will take place at
15.00hrs local
time (14.00hrs GMT) on Sunday 16th September.
Chris Vermeulen:
"I'm going to Portugal with high hopes for the rest of the season. I
want to do the
best I can for the remainder of the year, but I can't win the
championship so my
main priority is improving the GSV-R and my own performance so that I
will be in a
position to challenge for the title next year. I quite enjoyed Estoril
last season
and am sure that I can go even better this time out. I have a couple of
tracks
coming up that I really enjoy so I am expecting to get some more good
performances
to follow on from the podiums that I have had recently."
John Hopkins:
"I am really looking forward to the next race and feel confident that I
can make big
things happen there. I like Estoril and I think it will suit the latest
GSV-R well.
If we mix that with excellent performance and improvement of the
Bridgestone tyres I
am sure we can be right up there and chasing after that top spot. I
really want that
first place before the end of this season and I'm running out of races
so I'll be
going all-out to make sure I get it, and Estoril gives me a good chance
of it
happening this coming weekend!"
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