Rodrigo and Alcoba look ahead to Portimao following difficult Qatar round

Gabriel Rodrigo and Jeremy Alcoba head into round three of the Moto3 championship eager to bounce back at Portimao following a disappointing Doha Grand Prix. 

Rodrigo sits seventh in the championship standings following a fifth place in race one at Losail, but struggled during the final laps of the second Qatar race, as he slid down the order to 13th after initially battling for the podium. 

Rodrigo was tipped by several MotoGP riders before the season as a title favourite, however the Argentine is yet to win a Moto3 race, which he hopes to change this weekend.

Speaking ahead of round three, Rodrigo said: "We made the most of last week to recharge our batteries after the long trip in Qatar. 

"The desire to race again is already huge and last year I was competitive in Portimao. We’re in good form right now and I think we can do really good things in the next event. 

"The last moments of the DohaGP race have left a bitter taste in my mouth, so we will race to win in Portugal."

For Alcoba, the 2021 campaign has got off to a less than ideal start as he is yet to score points after two DNF’s. 

Alcoba was looking like a potential race winner during the Doha Grand Prix, before a mistake heading into turn one resulted in the Spaniard running into the rear of Darryn Binder’s Petronas bike, before taking out his team-mate John McPhee. 

The incident led to a scuffle between both riders, which means they will start Sunday’s race from pit lane.  

Looking ahead to Portimao, Alcoba added: "We want to make a step forward. We will need to work on our own for the race. 

"Time attack and qualifying will count very little, knowing we will be starting from the pit-lane on Sunday. Let’s take the positive side (if there is one). 

"We will work on tyres and race pace during all sessions on Friday and Saturday, with the goal to put together a comeback on Sunday and get back to the leaders."