Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

MotoGP Race Results:

1. Valentino Rossi, Honda, 28 laps, 46:48.005
2. Max Biaggi, Honda, -2.094 seconds
3. Loris Capirossi, Ducati, -5.254 seconds
4. Sete Gibernau, Honda, -5.269 seconds
5. Tohru Ukawa, Honda, -10.581 seconds
6. Troy Bayliss, Ducati, -14.246 seconds
7. Marco Melandri, Yamaha, -16.143 seconds
8. Carlos Checa, Yamaha, -18.083 seconds
9. Nicky Hayden, Honda, -18.284 seconds
10. Makoto Tamada, Honda, -21.815 seconds
11. Alex Barros, Yamaha, -24.059 seconds
12. Shinya Nakanao, Yamaha, -27.082 seconds
13. Olivier Jacque, Yamaha, -27.651 seconds
14. Colin Edwards, Aprilia, -31.505 seconds
15. Noriyuki Haga, Aprilia, -57.118 seconds
16. Ryuichi Kiyonari, Honda, -61.412 seconds
17. Kenny Roberts, Suzuki, -61.542 seconds
18. John Hopkins, Suzuki, -66.601 seconds
19. Jeremy McWilliams, Proton, -70.958 seconds
20. Nobuatsu Aoki, Proton, -71.523 seconds
21. Andrew Pitt, Kawasaki, -78.550 seconds
22. David De Gea, Harris WCM, -1 lap
23. Garry McCoy, Kawasaki, -2 laps, DNF, mechanical

Chris Burns, Harris WCM, DNS

More, from a press release issued by Harris WCM:



PORTUGESE GP- ESTORIL
RACE DAY ­ SUNDAY 7TH SEPTEMBER
HARRIS ­ WCM

David de Gea – 22nd
“It’s very good to finish the race on the new 4 stroke, good for me and for the team. It’s given us a chance to see how the engine is working and how the tyres perform. There is still some more horsepower to come from the WCM engine and I am told that we will have this for Brazil.

“Today, I had some problem early on in the race with the braking, but I am happy to have finished and to be able to give my team some valuable feedback.”


Chris Burns ­ DNS crashed during warm­up lap
“I am sure my year has to turn around soon and it can’t come quick enough, it is such a shame what has happened with my bike this weekend. I crashed in warm-up today, the mechanics seem to think that the head gasket blew and I just lost rear grip totally. The bike ran on its side for about 2 minutes and we elected not to run it until the mechanics could inspect it closely.

“We came here knowing it would be tight for parts and spares and I guess I felt the brunt of that today. It’s good that David finished the race and for Rio, I know we will at least have one spare engine.

“All I can hope for is to finally finish a race this year, maybe that will happen in Rio.”


Peter Clifford ­ Team Manager
“Tremendously satisfying weekend overall although after David’s great qualifying yesterday, we all hoped for something a little more than a finish today.

“Realistic though, that is an achievement in itself and only by finishing the first race, could we learn what we need to improve for Rio.

“I’m sure that the next steps forward are quite achievable and we all hope that we can put an end to Chris¹s frustration at the same time.”


More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:

Marlboro Portuguese GP, Estoril
Race Day
Sunday, September 7 2003

DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM SCORES THRILLING PODIUM FINISH

Ducati Marlboro Team rider Loris Capirossi scored a breathtaking, last-gasp podium finish in this afternoon’s Marlboro Portuguese GP, using the awesome power of his Desmosedici to out-accelerate Sete Gibernau (Honda) to the finish line. Team-mate Troy Bayliss, riding his first race at this arduous venue, finished a determined sixth. In warm but blustery conditions Capirossi battled throughout for third place with Gibernau while Bayliss had a serious fight on his hand to keep sixth place. As ever, neither Ducati Marlboro Team rider gave up.

“That was a very hard race with a very fast pace but we made the podium again which is always our goal,” said Ducati Corse managing director Claudio Domenicali. “The leaders were incredibly quick and Loris rode a fantastic race to stay in the fight for a podium result. He made a little mistake mid-race that dropped him from third to fourth but he never gave in after that. He knows his engine is very fast, so he stayed close to Gibernau at the end of the last lap and was able to beat him to the line. That was a great moment! Troy also rode a great race, fighting all the way and maintaining a fast pace.”

Briton Neil Hodgson completed a great day for Ducati by securing the World Superbike championship at Assen. This is Ducati’s tenth riders’ Superbike crown.

CAPIROSSI STARTS FROM POLE, FINISHES A BRILLIANT THIRD

Loris Capirossi scored his fourth podium finish of the season at Estoril today, coming out best of a race-long tussle for third-place with Sete Gibernau. The ultra-determined Italian, who started from pole for the third time this year after clocking the fastest-ever lap of Estoril in yesterday’s final qualifying session, ran third in the early stages, then slipped behind Gibernau before mounting his final-lap attack. The pair swapped places three times on that last lap, Capirossi finally drafting past the Spaniard down the 320kmh/199mph main straight to take third by 0.015 seconds to strengthen his fourth place in the World Championship.

“Rossi and Biaggi set a very, very fast pace which I couldn’t quite match,” explained Capirossi. “I tried to follow them but in the end I ended up chasing Sete after I made a little mistake at turn one just before half distance. During the final few laps I managed to get back with Sete, so I could plan my attack for the last lap. I got by him at turn one but then I had a big slide out of turn seven which allowed him to re-pass me at the chicane. After that I stayed very close, then took an outside line at the final corner, using my bike’s excellent engine to overtake him 20 metres before the finish. I really wanted that podium!”

BAYLISS TAKES DOGGED FATHERS’ DAY SIXTH
Ducati Marlboro Team rider Troy Bayliss rode a dogged race to finish in sixth place in his Estoril debut on Australian Fathers’ Day. Starting from the second row, the Aussie ran in fifth place for the first few laps, holding that position until just before half-distance when he was relegated to seventh. In typical fashion Bayliss fought back, reclaiming sixth and staying close to Tohru Ukawa (Honda) until the Japanese edged away in the final laps.

“All I want to do is win races so I don’t like finishing sixth, but it’s not bad and it’s the best I’ve been all weekend,” said Bayliss, who consolidated his fifth place in the World Championship, making him by far the best MotoGP rookie of the moment. “This track is very physical and we didn’t get the bike set-up as good as we had it at Brno a few weeks back. We need an exact set-up for every track but we sure learned a lot today, which will hopefully pay off next year. Like we ran a very high first gear today which wasn’t so good at the start, but that means we’ll know what to do next time we come here.”


More, from a press release issued by John Hopkins’ publicist:

UNEVENTFUL DAY FOR HOPKINS IN GRAND PRIX OF PORTUGAL

ESTROIL, Portugal – John Hopkins had a rough go of it in the Grand Prix of Portugal in Estoril on Sunday. The factory Suzuki rider from Southern California finished 18th, a minute and six-seconds down to race winner Valentino Rossi and five seconds behind his teammate, former world champ Kenny Roberts, Jr. Hopkins started 17th and ran as high as 16th on the first lap of the MotoGP and ran as low as 19th in the middle stages. Once Hopkins was able to get past Jeremy McWilliams on lap 13 of 28 he ran 18th for the rest of the day.

“The result wasn’t what I’d hoped for,” said Hopkins, who suffered his worst running finish of the season. “At least I had a bike that was much more ridable and I pushed it to its limit. We’d like to finish in the points, but at least we’re finishing the races, which is a start.”

Hopkins reported the race to be fairly uneventful.

“I got into it a little bit there with McWilliams,” he said. “After I got by him I got in behind Kenny and rode there the rest of the race. I wasn’t able to make any more passes.”

A third straight non-points paying result cost Hopkins a position in the world championship standings. He now is 17th in the standings with 22 points after 11 of 16 rounds.

Hopkins will return home to California and train in preparation for the next MotoGP at the Nelson Piquet circuit in Brazil, on September 20.


More, from a press release issued by Fortuna Yamaha:

Portuguese Grand Prix
Sunday, 7 September 2003
Estoril, Portugal

BEST RACE SO FAR FOR MELANDRI IN ESTORIL; DIFFICULT DAY FOR CHECA

In perfectly sunny conditions at today’s Portuguese Grand Prix, Fortuna Yamaha Team riders Marco Melandri and Carlos Checa put in solid performances to finish seventh and eighth respectively. Melandri rode his strongest race of the season so far at the Estoril circuit, achieving consistently fast laps while battling for his best finish of the season to seventh place. Team-mate Checa had a difficult race, despite having a rather positive weekend overall and a reasonable qualifying, eventually ending the contest in eighth. In another far from dull battle for the MotoGP podium finish, Valentino Rossi dominated the second half of the 28-lap race. The reigning MotoGP World Champion once again emerged as victor with a time of 46:48.005, and has increased his championship lead to 46 points.

Fortuna Yamaha rider Marco Melandri’s season took another decided turn for the better as he produced consistently high lap times including some ’39s during the Estoril onslaught. The Italian rider claimed to have a tricky start but quickly passed several riders by the third lap. He then entered an impressive lap-by-lap battle for sixth position with Honda rider Tohru Ukawa and Ducati’s Troy Bayliss, eventually ending the contest seventh and gaining a well-earned nine championship points. The MotoGP rookie has progressed impressively in his first season riding the Yamaha YZR-M1, and despite missing the first two races of the season due to injuries sustained in the first round of the year, the MotoGP rookie now lies fifteenth in the championship standings.

“I am quite happy,” said the twenty-one-year-old. “The bike went very well and I could keep a good pace with my average lap time in the ’40s, and even a few ’39s. At the same time I am a bit angry because I had some problems with my right arm and I couldn’t brake properly on the esses. I know why and it won’t happen again. It was a very nice race though, and I had fun.

“I knew yesterday that I would do better in the race than I have done all weekend because in this morning’s warm-up we improved the problem I had cornering in the last sections of the track. We made some adjustments to the set-up and they worked – and I could suddenly complete the last section properly. I had a good rhythm throughout the race, and I’m optimistic that I can make even more progress for the next races. I am also happy to be the fastest Yamaha today!”

Having started from pole to finish second here last year, as well as putting in consistently fast lap times in both of this weekend’s qualifiers, Carlos Checa ended his weekend in Estoril today disappointed with his eighth-place finish. The Spanish rider is fond of the Portuguese circuit and was confident that today’s race could have been his first podium of the season but it was not to be. Starting from sixth on the grid, Checa had a difficult start and stayed for the first part of the race in the ninth spot, finally improving his lap times and overtaking fellow Yamaha rider Alex Barros before the chequered flag. The Fortuna Yamaha Team rider explained that he had experienced problems in the earlier stages of the race due to the weight of his fuel tank, which diminished later on.

“I had some problems at the beginning, braking with a full tank of gas”, said Checa. “During the first ten laps there was too much pitching, and I think if it hadn’t been for that I could have finished in the first five. My crew did change my suspension slightly during the weekend but unfortunately it didn’t pay off today. We have discussed the race and agree that we need to alter the geometry again, and have a clear direction of where we need to go now. We tested some different tyres yesterday but it was too risky to try them out today. We know the base of the problem, and we’re all working hard in the same direction to sort it out.”

The director of the Fortuna Yamaha Team, Davide Brivio, was pleased with the impressive performance of the team’s protégée Melandri but realises that both riders and the team still have a way to go, “It was a very good day for Marco,” said Brivio. “Of course it could have been even better if he hadn’t got some pain in his arm. Seventh position is a good result and his best so far, as well as the best of the Yamahas. I hope this helps to give him even more confidence. We still have more races to go and I expect a good end of season for him.

“Carlos showed at the end that he could have had a bit more pace. This certainly wasn’t the result we expected for him. At the beginning of the race when he had a full tank he said he found it difficult to go fast but towards the end he could. His result is quite disappointing and we’ll have to look into that problem to ensure it doesn’t happen again and that Carlos feels confident for Rio.”


More, from a press release issued by Proton Team KR:

PROTON KR V5 TAKES LANDMARK FIRST DOUBLE FINISH

Round 11: Portuguese GP, Estoril
Race, Sunday, September 7, 2003

Jeremy McWilliams: 19th
Nobuatsu Aoki: 20th

Team Proton KR’s infant MotoGP four-stroke racer took a significant step on its journey towards maturity in today’s Portuguese GP, with the pair of howling racers finishing in close formation, ahead of the factory Kawasakis and within sight of the factory Suzukis, with McWilliams just six tenths of a second ahead of Aoki. It was the first double finish for the new machine, in only its fifth race.

The Portuguese GP, round 28 laps of the technically and physically challenging 4.182km Estoril circuit outside Lisbon, was the first for a new power-up version of the radical 60-degree V5 engine, as well as the latest development chassis. Both contributed to a significant improvement. But the real achievement was to get both bikes to the finish line, proving that the teething problems are being solved one by one, and offering a promise of further improvements over the last five races of the 2003 season.

McWilliams and Aoki started from 16th and 23rd places on the grid, after both riders had worked their way through problems in qualifying. McWilliams set his time after reverting to the old 500cc two-stroke Proton KR3, but then fell off the lightweight three-cylinder bike when he tried to improve.

There was never any question of racing the 500cc machine, however, with team and riders fully focussed on pushing forward the development of the brand new V5. And the machine repaid their faith, with the riders holding their own among the lesser bikes from the Japanese factory teams, and ran hard all the way to the chequered flag.

The race was won by defending champion Valentino Rossi (Honda), further extending his championship lead. Now the team join their rivals on the gruelling round of four flyaway races, in Brazil, Japan, Malaysia and Australia, before the November 2 finale at Valencia.


JEREMY McWILLIAMS
I’ve never seen so many happy people after finishing four places from the points. It wasn’t so much fun – we still have some real difficulties that slowed us in the race, and we obviously still have a little problem with straight line speed. Something went wrong about 12 laps out, with the engine making funny noises, but though it slowed me down a bit, it kept going to the end. The new power has increased our chances a lot, but I was having some electronic problems downshifting the gears, and some handling issues as well. But it’s the first time I’ve run full race distance, and that’s how you find these things out.

NOBUATSU AOKI
That was really a tough race, physically, and also because my bike wasn’t working quite right. For the first ten laps it seemed okay, and I could ride as I like, and push. But I was behind Jeremy, and though I could hear his engine was making noises … I couldn’t pass him, even if I slipstreamed him on the straight, because his engine was pushing better than mine. I also had some problems with the engine management – it was jerking, and after that it lost power again; and the rear wheel was hopping into the corners in the last ten laps. I just had to make it to the finish, and we did that.

CHUCK AKSLAND – Team Manager
It’s a milestone – the first time we have got two of the new machines to the finish. Considering the level of the competition, and that all but two of the starters made it to the end, the result is good. We got them both home, and made a lot of progress with the latest engine, and with chassis direction. We know we need more power, but we have a lot of guys working on that. It’s good to go to the flyaways knowing that we can now make full race distance.


More, from a press release issued by Pramac Honda:

MAKOTO TAMADA IN TOP 10 AT ESTORIL

A hard-fought race for Makoto Tamada, a rookie this year in the MotoGP but once again up in the top ten of the ratings. A good result. The Japanese rider of the Pramac Honda Team tried to maintain a constant pace throughout the race so that he could make an aggressive move forwards the end. And indeed Makoto managed to make some good passes that took him up to 10th place from 13th at the end of the first lap.

In some parts of the race Makoto attempted to open up the gas a bit further but, as he later explained to the technicians, he was suffering from poor traction as he came out of the corners. Makoto will indeed have to improve his performance in the sliding phase on his Honda RC211V as well as at the start, and he will need to make a more determined move when the entire group rushes into the first corner of the race.

Makoto used an intermediate front tyre on his RC211V: this has a new shape already tested at Brno, but adopts a different compound, combined with a medium-hard rear tyre of a type also tested during the mid-August trials. Having got into the points zone again today, Makoto Tamada is now 12th in the world championship.

MAKOTO TAMADA (PRAMAC HONDA TEAM): 10TH – 47:09.820
“I was pushed rather to the outside at the first corner and I was pushed back some places. So I immediately went into attack mode and tried to move up the field. I made some good passes and ended 10th. But I was hoping for more: I’m very demanding and I’m determined to do better. The difficulties I had in this race were like the ones I had at Brno – before opening up the throttle completely when coming out of a corner, I have to wait a bit: I have to delay things till I’ve got enough grip to deliver all the power down to the ground. But we’re working to improve, and we’ll get there soon. We’ve got the settings of the bike right now and in every race we’re getting closer and closer to what we want. We’ll carry on working and we’ll make sure we do even better next time, in South America.”


More, from a press release issued by Fuchs Kawasaki:

MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2003
ROUND 11 – GRANDE PREMIO MARLBORO DE PORTUGAL
7TH SEPTEMBER 2003 – MOTOGP RACE

FUCHS KAWASAKI TEAM BATTLE TOUGH DEBUT RACE AT ESTORIL

Former World Supersport Champion Andrew Pitt battled his way to a 21st place finish in today’s Portuguese Grand Prix, run at a warm and breezy Estoril Circuit.

Pitt battled an energy-sapping cold and fading grip levels over the final stages of the race and had to unwillingly concede two places to Jeremy McWilliams and Nobuatsu Aoki with five laps remaining. Pitt had raced hard against Suzuki and Proton rivals from the start and was disappointed he could not mount a response to their late race challenge.

Pitt’s team-mate Garry McCoy had a forgettable day at a circuit which has been kind to him in the past. McCoy started 22nd but never got on the race pace and failed to finish, retiring his Ninja ZX-RR machine with two of the 28 laps remaining. McCoy stopped as precautionary measure after a spray of water hit him from under the front screen.

The Kawasaki MotoGP team came to Estoril with no previous race data at a circuit that was always going to prove a huge challenge and provide a steep learning curve during the first year of development of the Ninja ZX-RR project.

However team boss Harald Eckl believes some valuable lessons have been learned and data gathered this weekend will be important to the next evolution of the ZX-RR, which is expected before the end of this season.

Andrew Pitt 21st
“The bike was fine and from the start I really thought I could have finished on the pace of the group I was running with. But over the final laps I just couldn’t get off the turns, the side grip had gone away and then when I tried riding the front tyre to hold the pace I had a couple of big moments; there was nothing to do over the final laps. With about 12 laps to go it felt like I was in good tyre shape and the other guys looked like they were spinning up, but it was a downwards spiral late in the race. It was hard work but I felt okay physically; I just need to get rid of this cold before Rio.”

Garry McCoy – DNF
“With a couple of laps to go a big spray of water hit me from under the front screen and I wasn’t sure where it was as coming from. The temperature looked okay, but I thought the water might be leaking onto the tyres so the best idea was to stop. This is a huge difference from when I won here three years ago, not finishing is hard to take. The team worked hard over the weekend, but we had a few problems and in the race I just didn’t have a good level of rear grip almost from the beginning. The same tyre had shaped up consistently in practice, but I never really got going. I hate not finishing; hopefully Rio will be good for us.”

Harald Eckl – Team Manager
“We knew this circuit was going to be hard work for us, but even so, days like this are still disappointing. What has been emphasised here is that our main focus needs to be on developing the chassis to improve the handling of the bike. We will be doing our homework after this weekend and I’m sure we will rebound at Rio, which is a track more suited to the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR.”


More, from a press release issued by Alice Aprilia Racing Information:

BAD START AND GOOD RECOVERY

Estoril – Rising race for the Alice Aprilia Racing Team bikes: a bad start for Edwards and some traction problems for Haga. Then the situation changed especially with the great recovery of Colin who passed many competitors. So the European phase is gone and the team will travel to Jerez for some tests planned for Tuesday and Wednesday. Colin and Marcellino Lucchi will be engaged in two days of practices whilst Haga will go home in Japan to meet again his little son Ryota, born the 25th of August.

COLIN EDWARDS: “This was one of the worse start of my career. In the first corner I was amongst the last riders. In the first laps I was not able to overtake the others: to much traffic and the traction was not so good. I took many risks but I feel satisfied cause I rode with interesting lap times”.

NORIYUKI HAGA: ” After a difficult week end the situation improved during the race: especially the chattering problem has been reduced. My feeling with the bike was not so good in acceleration because of some regulations that I was not comfortable with. In the corners I was a bit clumsy but my bike was very fast in the straight”.

GIGI DALL’IGNA (Project Leader): “I am sure we could do better but the bad start of Colin ruined our plans. The pace was very slow.. it’s a pity! Compared with last race in Brno we took a step forward especially regarding the chattering problem. Now we are going to test in Jerez where we will work hard with Edwards and Lucchi in order to find the right chassis setting with the support of Michelin staff as well. In the mean time the bikes are leaving for Brazil and I expect a better result there!”