Lorenzo aims for more Estoril success

From motogp.com

Almost four weeks after the Jerez round – the extended break being due to the postponement of the Japanese GP until October – the MotoGP World Championship returns to action at Estoril this weekend, where the bwin Grande Prémio de Portugal hosts Round 3 of the 2011 season. This will be the 14th occasion that there has been a Portuguese GP.

There was no shortage of talking points following Round 2 in southern Spain, where defending World Champion Jorge Lorenzo took his first win of 2011 in the wet, and was followed onto the podium by a Dani Pedrosa struggling with his recovering left arm and Nicky Hayden. Casey Stoner's inability to finish the race after being taken down in an incident involving Valentino Rossi, the latter of whom managed to remount his bike and finish fifth, merely added to what was a highly eventful race at Jerez.

Yamaha Factory Racing rider Lorenzo has a formidable recent record at the Estoril track, having won for the past three seasons from pole position. The Spaniard has now finished inside the top four for 22 straight races, and leads the early Championship standings by nine points ahead of Pedrosa. The Repsol Honda man arrives in Portugal hopeful that surgery immediately after Jerez will have eased the discomfort caused in his left arm, and despite that he secured a 90th GP podium in the last round, making him only the 10th rider to reach the milestone in the World Championship's 63-year history.

Stoner will be eager to put the DNF from Jerez firmly behind him and regain the momentum he has established in the early stages of the season. The Repsol Honda rider has twice stood on the Estoril podium in the premier class but is yet to win there in MotoGP (he has a 250cc victory to his name), and will view such a result as the perfect response.

Hayden is the highest placed Ducati rider in the standings after two rounds, with factory team-mate Rossi close behind. The Italian has only once finished off the podium at the circuit in the premier class, and counts five victories among his haul of rostrum results at Estoril.

Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini) and Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) experienced different fortunes in the previous round, the Japanese scoring his best premier class result to date with fourth while the Italian ended the race 12th. Dovizioso's last premier class podium came at Estoril in the penultimate round of 2010.

Héctor Barberá's (Mapfre Aspar Team) sixth at Jerez was another premier class personal best and the Spaniard will aim to build on that further, while rookie Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) finished eighth after a fall in the wet and now heads to another new track in Estoril. The Brit is another rider to have taken advantage of the almost four-week break to have undergone surgery, having an arm issue sorted out. Fellow rookie Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing) will be confident after taking seventh at the last outing.

Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini) will be more determined than ever to record a first premier class podium having crashed out while leading at Jerez, likewise Factory Yamaha Racing's Ben Spies will want to make up for taking no points at Jerez having been set for a podium finish when he fell while riding in second position.

Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) will also feel he has a point to prove after crashing in Spain, Toni Elías (LCR Honda) returns to the sight of his sole premier class victory, and Pramac Racing duo Loris Capirossi and Randy de Puniet will hope for an upturn in fortunes. The Frenchman had a screw removed from his left knee following Jerez, as he underwent follow-up surgery from his broken leg suffered last season.

Hoping to make a welcome return after missing the opening two races of the season following a fractured left femur, suffered in Qatar, is Álvaro Bautista. The Rizla Suzuki rider has been working hard to regain fitness and make his comeback just six weeks to the day after he sustained the injury, and has been named on the entry list for Estoril.

After only two rounds of the 2011 World Championship season the Moto2 category has already provided plenty of excitement, and more promises to pour forth at Round 3 in Estoril this weekend.

Italian Andrea Iannone is the early standings leader after taking victory in the wet at Jerez last time out, and the Speed Master team rider will aim to maintain and stretch his lead at the top after hitting his stride immediately in 2011.

Hot on his heels however are two riders who have also enjoyed strong starts to the campaign in the shape of Stefan Bradl and Thomas Lüthi, who are currently level on points. German rider Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing) won the season opener in Qatar and was the victor at Estoril last season so will be confident of pushing at the front, while Lüthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2) has registered podium finishes in the two rounds of the season so far.

The 125 category arrives in Portugal with Nico Terol (Bankia Aspar) threatening to extend his already impressive 19-point lead at the top of the Championship even further, on a track at which he has twice finished on the podium (including second place last year).

With two victories from the opening two rounds of the season the Spaniard is in fearsome shape, and will be the man to beat at Estoril. Aside from Terol's blistering start to 2011, there have been impressive displays from the riders following, one being young German talent Jonas Folger. The Red Bull Ajo Motorsport man, who placed fifth in Qatar and second at Jerez (his second World Championship podium), will be confident of pushing for a similar result in Portugal, while his compatriot Sandro Cortese (Intact Racing Team Germany) will also be eager to challenge for a first victory.