From a press release issued by Dorna:

MotoGP rumour mill begins to turn at Estoril

Whilst final preparations for the Grande Premio Marlboro de Portugal were taking place under heavy rain at the Estoril circuit today, the refuge of dry shelter brought several riders and teams together as the rumour mill regarding the grid line-up for the 2005 season began to turn. With only six races of the current season remaining, traditional summer speculation has intensified at what is the penultimate round on European shores this year.

At the centre of press attention was Sete Gibernau, who is currently embroiled in a battle for the title with current holder Valentino Rossi and has been linked with a sensational switch from Honda to Ducati. “It is always nice to be involved in these stories because it means you are doing your job well,” commented Gibernau, who has another year to run on his contract with Telefonica Movistar. “But right now my priority is to win the championship, and I’m sure if I do that then Honda will be very happy. I have always said that I want to stay where I am.”

One year ago it was Rossi who was at the eye of the transfer storm, as the world got wind of his proposed move from Honda to Yamaha. Today the Italian revealed his satisfaction that he may never have to go through the same ordeal again. “I remember this time last year, it was a hard time for me with a big decision to take,” said Rossi, who leads Gibernau by seventeen points after finishing second to the Spaniard in the last round at Brno. “I have the contract signed for next year and I think I will stay here for the rest of my career. For me it is quite funny to see the rumours about all the other riders.”

Turning his attention to the weekend’s action and other main talking point of the day, the weather, Rossi added: “At Brno we only had one hour in the dry and with the Yamaha that means we are starting from zero because we need more time to find the set-up. Especially here we are hoping for some dry practice and a dry race on Sunday.”

Nicky Hayden was locked in discussions with his Repsol Honda team for very different reasons today, with a decision yet to be made on the American’s fitness after breaking his collarbone in a training crash last weekend. “I want to ride but the team are understandably being cautious,” commented Hayden. “At the moment it doesn’t look likely that I will ride but I want them to wait until the very last minute before ruling me out so we’ll make a final decision later this evening.”

One man who definitely won’t be taking part is Hayden’s compatriot Kurtis Roberts, who took a late decision to stay in the USA where he will concentrate on making a full recovery from left elbow and wrist fractures sustained in a crash at Brno. Roberts will also miss a subsequent test session at the Estoril circuit with Proton Team KR, who plan to run the KTM V4 MotoGP engine in a hybrid chassis after completing a successful shakedown test last weekend.

Shane Byrne is also injured but has been replaced at Aprilia by Michel Fabrizio. The Italian youngster has split with the WCM team to take his dream ride and will be replaced by Chris Burns, who returns from injury to take his place alongside British compatriot James Ellison.

Dani Pedrosa could not hide his concern about the weather, with his only two results outside the top two in the 250cc class this season coming with a crash in the wet race at Jerez and a controversial third place at Brno two weeks ago. The young Spaniard had called for the race to be stopped due to rain when holding a clear lead and his meteorological concerns this weekend are compounded by a lack of affection for the Portuguese track.

“I’ve never liked Estoril too much – it has a long straight, it’s narrow and bumpy,” commented Pedrosa, who leads the series by 30 points from Randy de Puniet. “As if that wasn’t enough, it’s always really windy and that makes it difficult to ride. Hopefully the weather is good and we can prepare well for the race in qualifying. The good thing about Estoril is the fans – it is close for us and there are always a lot of Spanish fans there. That’s always an extra motivation.”

Pedrosa’s compatriot Jorge Lorenzo was also cautious, as he looks to overturn several superstitious precedents on the back of his 125cc victory in the Czech Republic last week. “I’m feeling fit and ready to go for the win again but at the same time I’m being a little wary,” explained Lorenzo, who lies fourth in the championship, 74 points adrift of runaway leader Andrea Dovizioso. “I want to end a bad run because whenever I have won in the past, I have crashed out of the following race. It happened last year at Motegi after winning in Brazil and this year in Brazil after winning at Assen.”

Victory for Lorenzo would also end a record run of 33 races without a back-to-back winner in the 125cc class, as well as moving Derbi up to level sixth in the all time Grand Prix winners’ list by factories, alongside Kawasaki on 85.