Jorge Lorenzo aboard the new 1000cc Yamaha M1 has had a good start to his season with a victory and a second place in the two races held thus far in Qatar and Jerez and is now four points ahead of reigning World Champion Casey Stoner who won the last race at Jerez and finished third in the first race at Qatar. But Stoner is known to be suffering from an arm pump problem that is getting a little exacerbated by the rear wheel chatter of the Honda RC213V that he is riding. Dani Pedrosa too has gone well on the Honda but has yet to win a race this season despite finishing second and third in the first two races of 2012. This weekend is the next stop on the GP calender and it is at Estoril in Portugal, which for all practical purposes is hosting its final MotoGP race, with newer races in Russia and India supposed to be taking its place on the MotoGP race calender from 2013 onward. Even though India is not a confirmed race yet, Russia is and for sometime now it is being said that Estoril is the circuit that is most likely to face the axe.
Irrespective of these developments, it is a track that Jorge Lorenzo likes very much and has good results at this venue. It is therefore not very surprising that Lorenzo is looking forward to Estoril. Lorenzo believes he could have won at Jerez as well but for a wrong front tyre choice and therefore one has to believe that his confidence is not misplaced. Even Casey Stoner has said that the Yamaha of Lorenzo is all that his own Honda is minus the disturbing rear wheel chatter. But only a fool would write Stoner off; the man has demonstrated time and again that he has the grit and ability to fight adversity to emerge victorious. Lorenzo maybe optimistic but our money is firmly on Stoner, if you must know.