These just in:

History repeats for rocketman Lorenzo in Estoril; Rossi fourth

Jorge Lorenzo was untouchable once again in Portugal this afternoon and took a stunning fourth win of the season, 16 months on from his maiden MotoGP victory at this same track. His Fiat Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi had a disappointing day and came home a distant fourth, although the Fiat Yamaha Team secured the Teams' Championship title, the first leg of the 'triple crown'.

22-year-old Lorenzo had looked invincible all weekend and today was no different as he blasted off from pole for the 35th time in his career, reaching turn one in second place but regaining the lead a couple of corners later. Wearing special 'astronaut' leathers and helmet to commemorate the Moon Landing and match the one-off white 'Fiat Punto Evo' livery on his YZR-M1, the Mallorcan was unchallenged from then on and stretched his lead until the end, finishing a commanding 6.294 seconds clear of Casey Stoner to take his 26th career win.

Rossi had struggled to match his team-mate's pace all weekend and a problem with rear grip plagued him today and compounded his difficulties. He dropped to fourth on the first lap after starting from second and was unable to make any headway into the gap to Stoner and Pedrosa, eventually coming home some 13 seconds behind the Spaniard. It was the Italian's 100th start for Yamaha, from which he has won an incredible 43 times.

Yamaha are now assured of one of their riders being crowned World Champion but with Rossi's lead now cut to 18 points from Lorenzo in second, the tension is mounting as to which one it will be. MotoGP now has a week off before the 'flyaway' double-header in Australia and Malaysia.

Masahiko Nakajima - Fiat Yamaha Team Director

"Today we have achieved the first objective of our season - the Fiat Yamaha Team becoming 2009 Teams' Champion. I would like to thank our riders, our team staff and YMC MotoGP Group Engineers for their invaluable support, which has allowed us to achieve this great result. My appreciation also goes to our sponsors and technical partners, because their contribution has been crucial for Yamaha and for our Factory Team. We look forward to working with all of them in the future and to being able to repay their support with many more victories".

Jorge Lorenzo - Position: 1stTime: 45'35.522
"What a day! I'm so happy to win here again in the same track where I won my first MotoGP race last year. I worked so hard in the break on my fitness with my father and maybe that's given me a little bit of extra speed, I certainly felt so strong this weekend and it is great to win like this after being top in every session as well. I got a good start and it took me just a couple of corners to get past Dani and take the lead, but I honestly didn't expect to be unchallenged from then on or to finish with such a big gap. This is a good track for me but I am fast more or less everywhere now. The championship is closer now; it's still not easy but we have nothing to lose! I'm proud that we have won the Team Title and I want to say thanks and congratulations to everyone. I liked my leathers and helmet a lot this weekend and I wanted to celebrate Neil Armstong and his landing on the moon so this is why I made this 'moonwalk show' after the race!"

Valentino Rossi - Position: 4thTime: +23.428

"It was a very difficult race for me. I was never able to be fast because I did not have enough grip in the rear and our tyre did not work well, but I think it was more a problem of setting. After a few laps I was in great difficulties and I immediately understood that this was not going to be "our" race. Throughout the practice sessions I had some problems but I thought that today I would be able to at least stay with Stoner and Pedrosa, but they made another step forward for the race and then there was no chance for me. On Friday I was three tenths off the pace and unfortunately this stayed the same all weekend and in the race today. Here in Estoril we struggled last year as well, so it might be that, with our setting, the rear tyre gets very hot and this causes a lack of grip. It is a pity that I am off the podium, but we have three more races and they are three great tracks. We must think race by race and we must work to understand what the problem was today in order to make sure that we fix it in time for Phillip Island".

Daniele Romagnoli - Team Manager

"We were confident today that we had a strong chance for a good race, but we didn't expect such domination. We were consistently fast through all the weekend but even so the team made another improvement after qualifying and Jorge rode the best he's ever ridden. Now the championship is even more interesting and the last few races will bring great attention on us all, but we're looking forward to the challenge! Finally I want to say well done to everyone in the team for winning the Team title again."

Davide Brivio - Team Manager
"In reality, we weren't really racing today. Valentino experienced some problems, which meant that he was never able to make the tyres work well and he was unable to be competitive. We will go into these problems in detail in our technical debrief later this afternoon. Valentino was bravo to finish the race in a very difficult situation, but he knew that taking points was key and we got 13 very important points here. As a consequence of the entire season, which has been dominated by the two Fiat Yamaha Team riders, we have won the Team title today, which is the first step on the road to our main goal".

Edwards and Toseland claim double top ten in Estoril

Colin Edwards strengthened his bid for a top five MotoGP world championship finish after a strong ride to fifth place at a sun-drenched Estoril circuit today.

And helping the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team claim another double top ten finish was James Toseland's determined performance, the British rider shrugging off the affects of a head cold to finish in a thoroughly deserved ninth place.
Edwards started and finished the 28-lap race in fifth, the American fighting hard to match the blistering pace set by Jorge Lorenzo, Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa and Valentino Rossi in front of him in the early stages. But his consistent pace saw him comf ortably pull away from a chasing group that included Andrea Dovizioso, Nicky Hayden and Loris Capirossi.

Edwards' sixth top six finish of the season leaves the American trailing Dovizioso in the overall standings by just eight-points with three races remaining. And the 35-year-old easily maintained his position as leading non-factory rider.

Toseland produced a rousing performance in front of 45,539 fans basking in glorious temperatures that hit 27 degrees, the 28-year-old ending ninth after he'd fought superbly in the opening half of the race to get involved in a battle involving Hayden and Capirossi for seventh.
Today's result saw Toseland move to within 12-points of a top seven championship finish.

Colin Edwards - Position: 5thTime: +32.652

"Like I said yesterday, if you're the next best rider behind the top four in the world then you've done a good job and I rode the strongest race I could today. I got a good start but we've been fighting some front-end movement all weekend and I knew early on I wasn't going to be able to go with Valentino (Rossi) in front of me. The tyres worked great but we were just missing something on the set-up that meant even though Valentino was struggling a little bit, I couldn't really put any pressure on him. As much as I couldn't comfortably stay with the four guys in front, it was pretty easy for me to run a pace that meant I could pull away from the group behind me. Once I'd got a comfortable gap it was just a case of staying consistent to make sure I didn't give anybody a chance of catching me. I got a few more points back on Dovizioso for fifth in the championship and that is a good reward for the all effort my guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3 have put in.We've got three races to go and I'll be giving it my all as alw ays because I really want that fifth spot in the championship."

James Toseland - Position: 9thTime: +44.093

"I really enjoyed that race and it was good to be in an exciting battle with the second group. I was running pretty much the same lap times as Dovizioso and (Toni) Elias for most of the race and there was a great battle between myself, Hayden and Capirossi. I was having the most fun in that race that I've had for a while. The difficulty for me was that I've been struggling with a cold all weekend and it is very difficult to take any kind of medication when you've got to race. Over the whole race distance I didn't realise how much the cold had taken out of me but it wasn't a big problem. The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team have worked incredibly hard all weekend to give me a really good package to ride today. I'm still only twelve points off seventh in the championship and that is my target now for the remaining three races. I really want that seventh place in the championship and am looking forward to giving the team a good finish to the year."

Herve Poncharal - Team Manager

"I'm really happy with the effort of the whole Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team this weekend and a double ten is a good reward for all of us. Colin had a brilliant weekend and though I don't like to say it, we were the best of the rest again. The top four are pretty much untouchable but to be the first of the rest is a great achievement for us. Colin could open a gap on the group behind him quite comfortably and he made no mistakes, which is always crucial. I'd also like to thank. James again for another determined race and again he proved he is a quality MotoGP rider. His lap times were really close to the top six again and today's result helps us go on the long trip to Australia and Malaysia in a really positive frame of mind. Finally congratulations to Jorge Lorenzo and Yamaha today. Jorge was incredible and Yamaha has won the Constructor Championship again which is a fantastic achievement."

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OUTSTANDING PODIUM FOR STONER IN PORTUGAL, HAYDEN EIGHTH  

The Ducati Marlboro Team celebrated the return of Casey Stoner with podium champagne in Portugal today as the Australian guided his GP9 back to the podium with a stunning second place. Stoner was back to riding in his style, fast, over all 28 laps of the Estoril race, with only eventual race winner Jorge Lorenzo able to better him.

At the chequered flag Stoner showed no signs of the symptoms that had dogged him for several rounds before his enforced break from action, although he was understandably tired after a full MotoGP race, following two months of inactivity.

Nicky Hayden made a good start to the race but he was unable to capitalise on an encouraging performance in this morning's warm-up as he eventually crossed the line in eighth place after struggling somewhat for grip.

CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team)  (2nd)

"It is great to be competitive again and to stay that way right to the end of the race. I maybe could have been faster over the opening few laps but I made a little mistake, which caused my foot to slip off the peg. It broke the footrest support and it was moving around in all the right-handers, so my foot was slipping off. As the laps went by I was able to alter the footpeg position a little but I wasn't able to go any faster. Obviously Jorge was too fast for us today and he did a fantastic job but I'm still really happy today for myself and for the team. It is brilliant to come back like this and I think it shows that the decision to take a break and tackle a physical problem that was really making it impossible for us, was the right choice. Like I said I'm happy for the team because it has also been a difficult period for them. My relationship with Ducati, built over the past three years, has always been strong and solid. Now I'll try and start training a little before the next race because over the last few months my physical condition has suffered and I need to try and get some muscle back. The target for the next few races is for myself and the team to prepare as well as we can for next season."

NICKY HAYDEN - (Ducati Marlboro Team)  (8th)

"After the morning warm-up I was expecting a little more today but I just didn't feel like I had the traction I'd had for most of the weekend. The bike was moving around a lot under acceleration and it was hard to get out of the corners. We made good progress throughout the weekend and like I said this morning felt quite good but the afternoon was really warm and maybe that affected us too much. I got a decent start and moved up a few places but a lot of guys were able to pass me on the front straightaway and I'm not really sure why the bike didn't feel fast  as usual. Nevertheless we learnt a lot this weekend and got some good data. I'd hoped for more but eighth is the best we could do. It's not for a lack of effort or hard work but sometimes that's not good enough. Hopefully we can do better at Phillip Island."

FILIPPO PREZIOSI General Director Ducati Corse Division

"This is an incredible feeling and a result that proves that Casey taking a break was the right decision and that the team managed the situation in the best possible way. We're happy more than anything to see Casey with a smile back on his face - before, during and after the race weekend. Nicky showed good pace in the warm-up this morning but paid the price in the race for a non perfect qualifying session. We still have work to do and we're looking at some technical solutions designed to help him find more traction at circuits where the grip is so critical. He is a fighter and we know he will continue to improve."

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ELIAS LIVES UP TO ESTORIL BATTLECRY, UNLUCKY DE ANGELIS BREAKS DOWN

San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Toni Elias kept his promise of a fight through the MotoGP pack at Estoril today, recovering from a disappointing thirteenth on the grid to finish sixth in the Grand Prix of Portugal. At the scene of his only premier-class win back in 2006 the Spaniard produced another fine example of his late-braking style to pass Marco Melandri on the opening lap followed by James Toseland and Randy de Puniet on lap two.

After closing the gap to the group in front over the next few laps he made further passes on Loris Capirossi and Nicky Hayden and a crash for Mika Kallio set him up for a thrilling battle for sixth over the final laps with Andrea Dovizioso, which he won by just 0.014 seconds at the line. His team-mate Alex De Angelis was forced to retire after developing an electrical problem on lap seven.

Toni Elias (6th - 46'11"231): "I made a mistake yesterday in qualifying and had to start from thirteenth, and even though I didn't get off the line as well as I would have liked I soon got into my rhythm and was able to produce a good fightback. The hardest part was getting past Hayden and Dovizioso but I was able to make a move on Andrea four laps from the end and I am delighted to have held on to sixth place, which is a position we deserve. We finished ahead of one of the factory team bikes and that is important. Today we moved up into the top ten of the championship and in two weeks time we go to a circuit where we know it will be tough for us but where we hope to get the points that will help us towards our objective of seventh in the championship. Of course I owe a big thank you to all the guys in my team, who have done a fantastic job again this weekend."

Alex De Angelis (DNF): "It is a tough day for us because it's always frustrating to be forced out of a race by a mechanical problem but we know these things can happen and for us it was the first time this season. It is disappointing that it happened in the race and not in practice because it would have given us a warning - it was clearly an electrical problem though. This week the Honda engineers will run all the tests they need to do and they'll tell us exactly what the problem is and I'm sure it won't happen again. Obviously I'm disappointed because this was an important race for me and I really wanted to challenge for the top ten in the championship. Either way I'm confident because I love the next two tracks coming up and I'll be giving it my all again."

Fausto Gresini - Team Manager: "I'm really happy with Toni's race because it was always going to be difficult for him from the fifth row at a circuit where it is not particularly easy to overtake but he rode really well and showed a lot of belief in his own ability to take Dovizioso at the end. I'm delighted for him because it is a well-deserved sixth place. Congratulations to Toni and the team because they've done a great job together. I'm disappointed for Alex, who had an electrical problem and we'll look at it with the engineers now to try and work out what it was. He could have had a good race too today and it's a DNF we didn't want but that's racing." 

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HONDA RACING INFORMATION

Portuguese Grand Prix, Estoril
Race day, Sunday October 4 2009

Crowd: 45,539
Weather: warm and sunny
Ambient temperature 27 degrees
Track temperature 38 degrees

PEDROSA SETS NEW LAP RECORD ON WAY TO THIRD

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) established a new
Estoril lap record during a typically determined
ride to third place in today's Portuguese Grand
Prix. The Spaniard was Honda's top performer in
the race, while Toni Elias (San Carlo Honda
Gresini) and Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda)
provided the best entertainment as they battled
for sixth place all the way to the chequered
flag. Elias won the duel by just 0.014 seconds.

Pedrosa stormed into the lead from fourth on the
grid but then found himself unable to match the
pace of winner Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) and
runner-up Casey Stoner (Ducati), the Australian
making an impressive return from illness. But
once Pedrosa was settled into third place he ran
a consistently fast race, securing a new lap
record on lap 11 of 28. Today's result was his
eighth podium of the year so far. He goes into
the final three races of 2009 holding third place
in the points chase, just three points ahead of Stoner.

Elias, who won the 2006 MotoGP race at Estoril,
enjoyed a frantic ride through the pack from the
fifth row of the grid. The Spaniard struggled
during yesterday's qualifying session, ending up
13th quickest. Down in 12th after the first lap
of the race, he made impressive forward progress
and passed Dovizioso in the final few laps.

Dovizioso fought back in fine style, drafting
Elias towards the finish line, but missed out by
a fraction of a second. Dovi fought well in the
race, coming through from ninth on the first lap.
This was only the Italian's second race using
Öhlins suspension, so he still has plenty to
learn about finding the best settings for this new kit.

Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) had high expectations
of another good result after setting an
impressive pace in qualifying. But the Frenchman
suffered some cruel luck immediately after the
start - he caught his right foot in the fairing
of his RCV and the boot unzipped. De Puniet had
to slow down to close the zip and that put him in
last position. After that he fought back as best
he could to cross the line in 11th.

Gabor Talmacsi (Scot Honda) finished the race in
14th position. Alex De Angelis (San Carlo Honda
Gresini) was challenging for a top-ten result
when he was forced out of the race with a suspected electrical problem.

HONDA MotoGP RIDER QUOTES

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 3rd. "I made a very
good start today and held the lead until the
third corner where I ran a little wide and Jorge
came by. He was pushing really hard in the first
few laps and even though I was too, I couldn't
match his rhythm as he opened up a gap. When
Casey came past I tried to stay with him and was
able to put some pressure on and maintain a good
pace. I had a moment though where the bike was
snaking as I braked, I ran wide and I nearly
crashed - that cost me some time and opened up
the gap to Casey. So I'm reasonably happy with a
podium and it definitely it will now be an
interesting fight for third place in the
championship with Casey. He is the reference in
Australia and so the next race is going to be
hard fought - I'm looking forward to it. I
definitely want to win at least one of the three
races left and maybe the next one is the most important."

Toni Elias, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 6th. "I made
a mistake yesterday in qualifying and had to
start from 13th, and even though I didn't get off
the line as well as I would have liked I soon got
into my rhythm and was able to produce a good
fightback. The hardest part was getting past
Hayden and Dovizioso but I was able to make a
move on Andrea four laps from the end and I am
delighted to have held on to sixth place, which
is a position we deserve. We finished ahead of
one of the factory team bikes and that is
important. Today we moved up into the
championship top ten. In two weeks time we go to
a circuit where we know it will be tough for us
but where we hope to get the points that will
help us towards our objective of seventh in the
championship. Of course I owe a big thank you to
all the guys in my team who have done a fantastic job once again."

Andrea Dovizioso, Repsol Honda: 7th. "It was a
really close finish on the line and I just missed
out on sixth place - which isn't the result we
wanted, obviously. I started from the third row
and was ninth in the early laps before getting
past Capirossi, Elias and Hayden which took me up
to sixth. I was able to hold the gap to Elias
behind me but then I lost time on one lap and he
came past. I closed again and it was really close
on the last lap - I thought I had a chance of
taking the place out of the last corner but it
didn't happen. We've had a few issues finding
good grip and finding the best settings this
weekend which has made it quite difficult to get
the best out of the machine. I'm disappointed
today but we have plenty of potential to move
forward and we'll continue to improve our
understanding with the new suspension for the next races."

Randy de Puniet, LCR Honda: 11th. "I am
speechless! We could easily have finished in the
top eight today but bad luck picked on me. I
caught my right foot in the fairing at the very
first corner which unzipped the boot. I couldn't
ride with boot open, so I tried to close it for a
couple of laps, losing valuable positions. Then I
pushed hard to overtake Vermeulen but I had a big
highside moment which knocked my injured left
ankle against the fairing. The last four laps
were a bit painful. This result is not what we
expected considering the good rhythm we had during practice and qualifying."

Gabor Talmacsi, Scot Honda: 14th. "We are working
hard but during practice, qualifying and the race
we always had the same lap times. I am not
getting the feeling I would like from the bike.
For five or six laps I can stay with the others,
but then I struggle. And when I lose contact with
the others, my lap times drop. We must find a way
to prepare a bike that gives me a better feeling."

Alex De Angelis, San Carlo Honda Gresini: DNF.
"It is a tough day for us because it's always
frustrating to be forced out of a race by a bike
problem but we know these things can happen, and
for us it was the first time this season. It is
disappointing that it happened in the race and
not in practice because it would have given us a
warning - it was clearly an electrical problem
though. This week the Honda engineers will run
all the tests they need to do and they'll tell us
exactly what the problem is and I'm sure it won't
happen again. Obviously I'm disappointed because
this was an important race for me and I really
wanted to challenge for the top ten in the
championship. Either way I'm confident because I
love the next two tracks coming up and I'll be giving it my all again."

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KALLIO SLIPS WHILE IN SIXTH POSITION. CANEPA THIRTEENTH

It seems like everything was going in the right direction today for Mika Kallio. The Pramac Racing rider, who started from the tenth position, conquered the seventh position after the first turn and after three laps he was in sixth place. His pace was between the fastest riders and he was trying to reach Edwards who was in front of him, but he suddenly slipped in the last long turn before the final straight at lap six. His teammate, Niccolò Canepa, has finished the race in thirteenth position after a long challenge until the end of the race with Melandri. The Pramac Racing riders will try to conquer better positions in two weeks time in the Australian Grand Prix on the prestigious Phillip Island circuit.

Fabiano Sterlacchini - Pramac Racing Technical Director

"We are very disappointed that Mika has lost this occasion to conquer a good result. He deserved it for how the all racing weekend was going. During the warm up we found some really good solution on the bike and we have obtained the fifth fastest lap of the session. In the race things seemed to go in the right direction, but we all know how things ended. When back in the garage Mika told us he wasn't pushing and the bike suddenly lost the front: we will try to understand what has happened when we will take a look at the data. Niccolò has instead made it to finish the race conquering some world championship points. We hope that we will be able to do much better with both of our riders in the next race in Australia."

Niccolò Canepa - Pramac Racing rider - 13th in the race - 16th in MotoGP classification

"I expected much more today. I made a mistake at the beginning and I didn't make it to stay between the fastest riders. I felt really good on the bike during the warm up and in the race I thought I could have stayed in the top ten. I pushed to the maximum but I couldn't do more than this. A pity then I later lost the battle with Melandri for only twenty-three thousands of a second on the finish line. I tried to overtake him many times but it was really difficult."

Mika Kallio - Pramac Racing rider - DNF the race - 15th in MotoGP classification

"I am very disappointed. I was doing a really good race and all of the sudden I found my bottom on the ground. I wasn't pushing too much, in that part of the track you don't accelerate or brake, but you maintain the rhythm to later accelerate while exiting the turn going to the final straight. The front gave up on me and I slipped to the dirt on the side of the track. I am very sorry for the all Team: they deserve to obtain a good result and I hope to give it to them in these last three races."

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Capirossi unlucky as Vermeulen takes 10th in encouraging Estoril encounter

Rizla Suzuki's Loris Capirossi was forced to retire on the 20th lap of today's Portuguese Grand Prix due to technical fault, with team-mate Chris Vermeulen battling up to 10th after starting from 15th on the grid.

Capirossi made a good start to the race and was up to sixth position early on, but a mistake - which almost caused the experienced Italian to crash - saw him relegated back down the field. He quickly regained his composure and set about making the places back up. Capirossi chased down and passed a couple of other riders before homing in on Toni Elias and Andrea Dovizioso battling for sixth. He was closing the gap when disaster struck on lap-20 as a gear position sensor failed, which put the bike's ECU into ?safe mode' and meant all that Capirossi could do was ride the bike back to the pits and retire. Capirossi and the whole team were very disappointed to finish the race in this way but were all buoyed with the improvement of the Suzuki GSV-R at - what has been in the past - one of the team's toughest tracks.

Vermeulen also made an impressive start from back on the fifth row of the grid and steadily made his way through the field. He got involved in a mid-race battle with Randy de Puniet, which saw the pair swap positions regularly for several laps. Vermeulen eventually got past the Frenchman as he recorded his fastest lap of the race on lap 17 to move into 11th. Following Capirossi's unfortunate demise Vermeulen was promoted one more position up the classification to bring his bike home in a hard-fought 10th place.

Today's Portuguese Grand Prix was held in dry and warm conditions with over 45,000 people watching around the Estoril circuit. Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo won the race after starting from pole position; current world championship leader Valentino Rossi was fourth.

Rizla Suzuki now embarks on two fly-away races as part of the Pacific Rim tour; firstly the team travels to Vermeulen's homeland of Australia on Sunday 18th October before then heading to Sepang in Malaysia the following weekend.

Loris Capirossi:

The race wasn't too bad today - until we stopped! I started quite well and was with the front group, but I then lost control on turn six and lost a few places. I tried to get my rhythm back and I managed to overtake a few riders and I caught up with Toni and Andrea. I know I was quicker than them and could have got past to score a good result. Then I don't really know what happened to the bike, because it lost power, so all I could do was return to the pits. We have worked really hard this weekend to find the best way to go quicker on the GSV-R and overall our position this weekend was to fight for fifth or sixth, which is not too bad for us because this is one of the worst tracks for us in terms of performance. Everything seems to be improving and we are now looking forward to the next race."

Chris Vermeulen:

"I got a good start, but from the fifth row it was always going to be difficult. I got a bit blocked in in the first few corners and that didn't help things at all. I chose the softer tyres because I knew the first part of the race was going to be very important, but after about eight laps the rear tyre that I had chosen was too soft and it started to move around a lot and the grip level dropped off. This meant I couldn't do the times I'd been doing all weekend - or that I wanted to do in the race. I am quite happy with the way I rode and the fact that I moved up through the field. We've definitely made improvements with the GSV-R at this track and I'm really looking forward to going to Phillip Island with those improvements."

Paul Denning - Team Manager:

"The good news from this weekend is that we got the GSV-R working better for the Estoril track than we ever have done in the past. The rear grip issue problems that we have suffered in the long final corner have been improved dramatically and we'll find out in two weeks time in Phillip Island - when the final corner there has a similar characteristic - how big of a step in that direction we have made. As for the race result, 10th from 15th on the grid for Chris is not too bad and he tried hard as always, but the whole team is bitterly disappointed with Loris being forced to retire, particularly when it is due to something relatively trivial. We didn't have a perfect setting here and we need to make the bike a bit easier to ride consistently fast, but despite a very near high-side in the early laps, Loris re-found his rhythm and without question would have been fighting with Toni and Andrea for sixth position at the end - which would have been a good result."

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