With Hopkins leaving for Kawasaki at the end of the year, after five seasons with Suzuki, the Californian is desperate to highlight his Suzuki career with a debut
MotoGP victory during his final GSV-R rides.
"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!" said Hopper. "I am really looking forward to it and feel confident that I can make big things happen."
By contrast, Vermeulen - who took his debut MotoGP victory in the Le Man rain earlier this year, and will be joined by
Loris Capirossi at Suzuki next season - already has one eye on the 2008 championship.
"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," said the Australian. "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."
Vermeulen currently has the edge on Hopkins in the world championship, with Repsol Honda's
Dani Pedrosa 24 points ahead in third.
