Alex de Angelis will be hoping to add to his strong Estoril record when the San Carlo Honda Gresini team makes the trip from its base on the Adriatic to the edge of the Atlantic for this weekend's Grand Prix of Portugal.
The San Marino rider takes on the tricky circuit for the first time on a
MotoGP bike, but has stepped onto the podium there in both the 125cc and 250cc classes and reckons that he can build on that to get back in the mix as he was in Qatar.
“Unlike Losail and
Jerez, I'll be taking on a circuit where I've never ridden before on a MotoGP bike," he admitted, "Because we haven't tested at Estoril, it's difficult to make predictions, but I'm confident there will be an improvement on recent performances. We were fast all through winter testing, but the results of the first two races were not satisfactory. At Estoril, we can do really well, I'm sure of that."
Staying on for an extra day after the recent round at Jerez in southern Spain helped both de Angelis and veteran team-mate
Shinya Nakano make adjustments to the San Carlo-backed Hondas, and the youngster is optimistic that things will be better in Portugal.
"The test at Jerez was really important because we were able to work on certain things that hadn't worked during the race weekend," he explained, "
Bridgestone worked closely with the team and brought along a new structure that made the bike more stable. At this point, it's a case of trying to find a little more traction on the rear, which is the area we're struggling the most with right now.”
Nakano's objective, meanwhile, is to continue on the upward trend he enjoyed at Losail and Jerez, and continued at the Jerez test last Monday, where he and chief mechanic Antonio Jimenez were able to improve his feeling with the bike and tyres.
