MotoGP riders prepare for Portugal on water

Thursday, 28 April 2011

Miguel Oliveira, Karel Abraham and Julián Simón took to water for a boat trip in the pre event for this weekend’s bwin Grande Prémio de Portugal.

Miguel Oliveira (Team Andalucía Banca Cívica), Julián Simón (Mapfre Aspar) and Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing) were all present at the City Hall of Cascais, where they met with the Mayor of Cascais, Carlos Carreiras, on Thursday. A press conference was held to discuss home rider Oliveira’s expectations for the third round of the MotoGP campaign and afterwards the three got to enjoy the Portuguese sunshine on a boat, where they were also joined by journalists and photographers.

Local rider Oliveira is in his rookie season in the 125 series and will be one of the main attractions for fans at Estoril this weekend. The teenage star finished tenth in his debut race in Qatar but crashed out in the wet race at Jerez and is keeping level headed in his hopes for his home race. "I have no pressure for this home GP,” explained Oliveira. “A lot of people don’t understand that I'm in my first year and they want to see me on the podium. That is not going to be possible, but we’ll definitely be trying to do our best to make my people happy.”

Mapfre Aspar rider Simón has finished in the top ten in the first two races of the season and currently lies seventh in the Moto2 standings. The 24 year-old Spanish rider’s best result at the Estoril circuit is fifth place in the 125cc class from 2006 and he will be looking to improve on that. With the weather forecast this weekend predicting changeable conditions, the Suter rider is hoping for a dry race. "I'm very much looking forward to this GP, hopefully without rain. My target is the podium,” he revealed.

Czech premier class rider Abraham is hoping for a calmer race without incident after a crash in tricky conditions at Jerez. The 21 year-old recovered to claim seventh position and the MotoGP rookie said he and the Cardion AB Motoracing team need to keep pushing forward and do not need the repeat of his crash at Estoril last season. ”We need to keep working hard and hopefully not crash in the race like I did in Jerez or Estoril last year,” admitted Abraham.