Pedrosa feeling ready to attack final two races after further recovery
This weekend, the Motorcycle World Championships return to Europe with the staging of the Portuguese Grand Prix, the penultimate event of the season which will take place at the Estoril Circuit. There, Dani Pedrosa will make a comeback after two further weeks of recovery for his left collarbone, having missed the last three races in which Andrea Dovizioso returned to the podium – Japan and Malaysia -, although he also scored his third zero of the season in Australia.
If there is one rider in particular for whom this meeting is special, it is Marc Márquez, who arrives at the Portuguese track with, for the first time, the mathematical probability of being proclaimed 125cc World Champion. The Repsol rider faces the home straight of the Championships leading the overall standings, with twelve and sixteen points to his advantage over the second and third classified riders, with 50 points remaining to play for. The Repsol rider, just as he has done throughout the season, is looking towards the race with the determination to do a good job from the first minute of track time at a track where, once again, the very changeable weather may play a decisive role.
Conditions with which Dani Pedrosa will also have to contend, who, still convalescing from his fractured collarbone, preferred not to risk a hasty return in Australia in order to continue with his recovery. The Repsol rider has continued with his physiotherapy to regain the strength and mobility in the musculature of his left shoulder to recover the level of competitiveness which has enabled him to be on the podium in Portugal for the last three years.
Dani Pedrosa: “We get back on track this weekend at Estoril and, in principle, the situation should be much better than it was for me in Australia. The Estoril circuit is not as demanding as Phillip Island and this should help me to feel more comfortable on the bike. Plus I’ve had some more time to recover which should help too. This kind of injury needs time to heal and with two more weeks having passed I’m really looking forward to seeing how much the shoulder has improved. I went to visit the doctor last Tuesday to have the stitches removed, and the scar is fine. I’ve been doing some more rehabilitation on the muscles and I have some more strength, but I will not be able to fully judge how much difference there is until I get on the bike on Friday morning. Also, I think it can be positive for me that there will be two practice sessions on Friday again, as we had in Aragon. In te rms of the track layout, Estoril has some hard braking areas and it’s bumpy, but the fact that it has more right hand corners than left can be good for us. So, I’m looking forward to getting there with my team and seeing how I feel”.
Source: Repsol Media Service
