PYSRT MotoGP Duo Hoping For Better Luck In Portimao, Portugal

KUALA LUMPUR, April 14 (Bernama) -- Petronas Yamaha Sepang Racing Team (PYSRT) riders Franco Morbidelli and Valentino Rossi are hoping to make progress and grab valuable points at the first European round for the year when they rev off at the Algarve International Circuit in Portimao, Portugal, this weekend. The resumption of the 2021 Motorcycle Grand Prix (MotoGP) season after a week's break, should give Morbidelli and Rossi the opportunity to improve on their first two races of the season at GP of Qatar and GP of Doha at the Losail International Circuit on March 28 and April 4 respectively. In the Qatar race, Rossi finished 12th while Morbidelli came in 18th. In Doha, Morbidelli was 12th and Rossi 16th. Morbidelli, however, showed good form at the inaugural MotoGP round in Portimao last year, starting from the front row of the grid after qualifying second and ending the race in third spot. Now, he aims to do better. "After being on the podium in Portugal last year, I hope we can regain our pace and be in contention for a good result again this weekend. Every race is different though, so we will have to wait and see how we are once we are out on track. “We are improving each race and we’ve been trying to understand what happened to our bike set-up during our time in Qatar. Hopefully, we have found some improvements and can continue in a positive direction this weekend,” he said in the team’s statement Tuesday. Meanwhile, Rossi hopes that the start of the European leg of the MotoGP will signal a return to the front of the grid and allow him to put the troubles experienced in Qatar behind him. “The Portimao circuit is fantastic. It’s something different to all of the rest but, on the other hand, it’s very difficult. It’s a track that you need a lot of time to learn and every time you race there you can improve on something. “We found some new settings on the bike in the Sunday morning warm-up session of the Doha GP, which meant that I was able to maintain a better pace but we were hampered by the bad starting position. We hope that we can be stronger and competitive at this third GP, but also in Europe as a whole,” said the nine-time world champion. Although the Italian didn’t have the best of results at Portimao last year, he was able to recover during the race and score valuable points (12th) - something he will be looking to improve on this weekend. -- BERNAMA