MotoGP – The Grand Prix of Portugal MotoGP turn-based –

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The MotoGP Portuguese Grand Prix turn based

MotoGP - The Grand Prix of Portugal MotoGP turn-based -

Listed on the calendar since 1998, the Estoril circuit has just been added until 2011. The opportunity for Rossi to refine the most beautiful pilots’ record on this track (5 victories in 8 races!), Even if the competition promises to be rude. Round by round !

It is on a track that is struggling to exceed 20 ° C that the young Pedrosa sets the best time of the second free practice session: ultra motivated by the stake (if he won on Sunday, it would be the first "double" of his MotoGP career!), the n ° 2 does not hesitate to nickname the GP of Estoril "the fourth Spanish GP"…

Rossi is just behind (first Bridgestone rider), followed by Edwards, Hayden, Lorenzo, Dovizioso, Stoner, Nakano, De Puniet, Hopkins, Capirossi, Vermeulen, Toseland, De Angelis and Melandri. Sylvain Guintoli is 17th.

Zoom on…

Valentino rossi, who has not won for six races already, the last being precisely that of Portugal which is usually much later in the season … Happy to reconnect – temporarily – with a front row that has been running away since the Australian GP, the Italian knows, however, that the Estoril track is one of the five circuits where Bridgestone has never won…

Qualifying session (Saturday)

Continuing its momentum, the Lorenzo rocket won its third pole in a row and definitively entered the Pantheon of the biggest names in motorcycle sport! Preceding Dani Pedrosa by 0.233 seconds, Lorenzo especially allows himself to beat the track record signed by Vale "himself" (with a 990 cc, in 2006) by 0.485 seconds !

Then follow Rossi, then Hayden, Edwards, Toseland, Dovizioso, De Puniet, Stoner, Hopkins, Nakano, Capirossi, Vermeulen, Elias and West. Guintoli will start from 18th and last position, proof if there are any difficulties for the Drôme resident (but residing in London) to adapt to this GP8…

Zoom on…

Lorenzo, of course, which is turning all the statistics of the category upside down: it is the first time that a driver has managed to qualify on pole during his first three races in the premier category, and it is also the first pole of No. 48 on this route! Moreover, if he wins on Sunday, Lorenzo would become the youngest rider to field three MotoGP podiums, beating Pedrosa by just one day. !

Race (Sunday)

Departure : For the third time this season, Dani Pedrosa has made a perfect takeoff from his position on the grid, burning politeness to a Valentino Rossi who is also very motivated !

Follow Lorenzo, Dovizioso, Hopkins, Edwards, Hayden, Capirossi, Vermeulen and Stoner decidedly not at the party for two GPs: the Australian accuses the blow and seems nervous, even starting several times at the fault during the tests…

Immediately, the n ° 46 is pressed on the pilot of the HRC and passes him inside: Lorenzo takes advantage of this pass of arms to try to pass his "teammate"! But Valentino returns … and ends up abdicating a further turn !

2nd round : A few drops of rain crashed on Lorenzo’s visor in the pit straight. But Rossi does not care and carries out an anthological braking on the young Spanish prodigy, who must cede the command to him !

Follow the astonishing Dovizioso, Pedrosa, Hopkins, Edwards, Hayden, Vermeulen, Stoner, Capirossi, Toseland, Guintoli, Nakano, De Puniet, De Angelis and West.

3rd and 4th rounds : Rossi is looking to take shelter from the other riders by setting two lap records (1’38.4 and 1’38.2). Pedrosa sensed the danger: he quickly passed Dovizioso in a sequence and tried to overtake Lorenzo on braking on the straight line, but the Spaniard gave him a taste of his braking skills !

Randy passed Sylvain who seemed to be losing speed after a hot start, while Hopkins hoisted his Kawasaki in Dovizioso’s wake. Stoner painfully turns at a full second of the leaders’ pace: the world champion seems to resolve to try to limit the damage…

5th and 6th rounds : The order remains unchanged at the head of the race: Dani Pedrosa tries to overtake Jorge Lorenzo in the aspiration, but the M1 of the two-time world champion 250 seems in perfect health in the long straight !

Behind them we find Dovizioso in ambush, Hopkins, Edwards, Hayden, Stoner, Vermeulen, Toseland, capirossi, Nakano, Randy de Puniet and Alex de Angelis.

7th and 8th laps : Rossi continues his forcing, but if he nibbles tenth by tenth at Lorenzo, he seems faster than him in the first two partials. Further on, Stoner goes through Vermeulen, then the surprising Toseland for 7th place.

Nicky Hayden sets the fastest lap in the race, remembering everyone fondly, who had taken pole here last year before finishing fourth…

9th round : Valentino continues to go it alone, but parasitic movements of his rear tire are felt: could it be due to a few drops of rain, or to premature wear of his Bridgestone ?

Randy easily passes Stoner, who let go of the handlebars of his GP8 to apparently replace his on-board camera. !

10th and 11th laps : Dani Pedrosa sets the fastest lap in the race and takes the opportunity to stick to Lorenzo’s exhaust over the almost 990 meters of the straight line and plant the brakes at the last moment! The n ° 48 does not have time to react that already, the small "Asimo" launches out in pursuit of Rossi !

Dovizioso is slightly off the hook, while the n ° 69 passes Colin Edwards whose abandonment of Jerez marks the fourth time that the American has not finished in points since 2005! Meanwhile, the other three Ducatis are fighting at the bottom of the standings closed by Elias…

12th round : Lorenzo forcibly infiltrates under Pedrosa’s fairing at the end of the straight, forcing No. 2 to raise generously! By the way, the Yamaha rider sets the best time in 1’37.888, only four tenths slower than the best time in the race last year. !

Continuing his momentum, the Mallorcan swallows the Doctor in the first turn of the pif-paf, with surprising ease !

Bestof MotoGP – Estoril
Race 2007 Race 2008
Pole position 1’36.301 (Nicky Hayden – Honda) 1’35.715 (Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha)
Best lap in the race 1’37.493 (Nicky Hayden – Honda) 1’37.404 (Jorge Lorenzo -Yamaha)
Better top speed 314.9 km / h (Casey Stoner – Ducati) 319.9 km / h (Casey Stoner – Ducati)
Podium Rossi – Pedrosa – Stoner Lorenzo – Pedrosa – Rossi

13th and 14th laps : Jorge Lorenzo, in the lead, is still heading for what could be his first victory in the premier class, ahead of Valentino Rossi, Dani Pedrosa, Andrea Dovizioso, Nicky Hayden, Colin Edwards and John Hopkins returned to seventh…

James Toseland, whose first race on this track, overtakes Vermeulen while Pedrosa goes inside a Rossi who has lost a lot of precision in his trajectories….

15th round : The incredible Lorenzo continues his fast laps, closing in on Nicky Hayden’s 2007 record … as the race took place in much warmer and more stable conditions !

Pedrosa tries to make the force to come back up, inevitably taking down the n ° 46 fortunately at good length of the obstinate Dovizioso! Nicky Hayden continues his ascent and could soon join the Italian … who falls, saving him all trouble !

16th, 17th and 18th laps : The American does not take advantage of his good fortune for long, since he too makes a mistake on a trail made tricky…

Lorenzo sets the best time on the track in 1’37.404 and already has 1.2 seconds ahead of Pedrosa, himself one second ahead of Rossi: he could now pass under the threat of Edwards, who turns a hair faster than his former teammate…

19th, 20th and 21st laps : Lorenzo leads the ball masterfully, despite the raindrops scattered on the track. Stoner sounded the charge and passed Toseland under braking from the straight line, having got rid of Randy de Puniet the lap before! The world champion climbs back to 6th position !

22nd round : The Australian continues to climb back up, scooping half a second per lap at Hopkins! Behind them, Toseland and Randy begin to search for each other, followed by Vermeulen, Capirossi, Nakano, De Angelis, Elias, Melandri, Guintoli and West.

23 and 24th laps : Lorenzo continues his recital in front of Pedrosa, Rossi, Edwards (which the Italian seems to be able to contain within a short distance), Hopkins, Stoner, Toseland, Randy, Vermeulen, Capirossi and Nakano.

Dani Pedrosa gives everything he has to come back in contact with the Yamaha of n ° 48 and takes 2 tenths from him: Lorenzo is sailing ahead with another 1.7 seconds in advance while Rossi is 8 seconds behind his "teammate".

25th round : The battle rages between Randy and the English James Toseland: the French first passes the Yamaha to the braking of the pit straight line, but the n ° 52 resists inside, jostles a little the Honda RCV212 of Randy, slip up and make a miraculous recovery !

26th round : Pedrosa does not let go to try to get back on Lorenzo, even if it begins to feel the desperate cause. Rossi is nearly 10 seconds away followed by Edwards, Hopkins, Stoner and … Toseland !

Randy is no longer behind the world champion and pitifully reappears at the bottom of the standings: "no telemetry this time to check", thundered his chief engineer at the finish. Randy gave in to the pressure of the rookie Toseland by going out of line in a left and losing control on a dirty part of the track…

Last round : Lorenzo still leads and wins for the very first time in his (short!) Career, dethroning Pedrosa in the shelves of the youngest drivers in history to win a Grand Prix! The two Iberian pilots are neck and neck ahead of Valentino Rossi in the championship. Vale is a little upset to see his teammate blow the victory away, he who had to wait for his 9th race to win (Great Britain) in 2000…

They explain themselves …

MotoGP Ranking
1- Lorenzo J. 6- Stoner C. 11- De Angelis A.
2- Pedrosa D. 7- Toseland J. 12- Elias T.
3- Rossi V. 8- Vermeulen C. 13- Melandri M.
4- Edwards C. 9- Capirossi L. 14- Guintoli S.
5- Hopkins J. 10- Nakano S. 15- De Puniet R.

Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha / 1st) : "First of all, I would like to thank Yamaha and all my sponsors for their trust. It’s amazing to win this race, here in Estoril! It is simply indescribable! The start was a bit crazy due to the rain starting to fall and I had to take a risk to overtake Valentino, but luckily I passed and I was able to escape! Tomorrow I’m having surgery for my forearm problems, but I’m going to celebrate this victory !"

Dani Pedrosa (Honda / 2nd) : "At the beginning I tried to go faster than the others, because the pace was lower because of the rain. I am satisfied because we have worked well, even if unfortunately we only finish seconds."

Valentino Rossi (Yamaha / 3rd) : "In the end, it is not a bad result for us, because it is a circuit which does not succeed at Bridgestone. We worked well all weekend, I got off to a good start and tried to save my tires, but it turned out to be very difficult. The rear started to slip and I had to let Pedrosa go ahead. Despite everything, it’s my second podium in a row and I can consider myself happy."

Alexandre BARDIN – Photos DR

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