Fiat Yamaha pair go for gold

From Yamaha Racing

With just three months remaining before the city of Beijing plays host to the XXIX edition of the Olympic Games, China opens its doors to an equally talented array of athletes and a similarly historic championship this weekend as the MotoGP World Championship lands in Shanghai for the fourth round of an already intriguing season.

The Fiat Yamaha Team heads for the Orient in fine spirits after a sensational start to the season, which has yielded five podiums and leadership of both the teams' and riders' standings.

Pivotal to that success is the early season form of rookie revelation Jorge Lorenzo, who has made the most successful ever start to a modern-day MotoGP career after three races. An unbroken pole to podium record so far have taken the youngster to the top of the standings on 61 points - a tally he aims to add to in China on his 21st birthday.

A debut premier-class success in Portugal two weeks ago made Lorenzo the fifth youngest rider to achieve the feat - outshining legendary names such as Mike Hailwood and his own teammate Valentino Rossi - and the youngest to finish on the podium at three successive races.

Having conquered Estoril on his first visit with the YZR-M1, a circuit at which he had never previously won in any class, Lorenzo can fully expect to be competitive at Shanghai, where he dominated with pole position, victory and a new lap record in the 250cc class last year, especially after undergoing successful surgery to cure a troublesome 'arm-pump' condition.

"Each day I am feeling better after my operation; I feel great and I think the recovery is going very well, without problems," Lorenzo said. "I am going to China in perfect shape. The victory in Portugal was like a big present that I had never expected, but in a way it wasn't a perfect victory because I couldn't enjoy it so much! The pain in my arms changed the celebration but I believe the most important thing is to make sure I am fit for the future."

In 2005 Valentino Rossi himself made history by taking victory in the first ever MotoGP race to be held in China, which was affected by heavy rain. The Italian was forced to retire in 2006 but he bounced back with second place last year. Rossi is confident that his blossoming relationship with Bridgestone tyres is ready to bear fruit and see him join Lorenzo, Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa on the winners' list for the season.

"We should fight for victory," Rossi said. "After Estoril we had a test and the primary focus was tire testing with Bridgestone, working on material for Shanghai. We found some good things and I hope that we'll be starting in good shape. We've had three races together now and I think the last two podiums, especially in Estoril which isn't such a good track for Bridgestone, have shown that we're making good progress in our relationship."

Combining fast straights and hard braking zones with a series of slow and difficult corners, Shanghai is not dissimilar to Estoril in terms of bike set-up, with the engineers required to find a compromised balance between nimbleness and straight-line speed. As at any Herman Tiilke-designed circuit, horsepower is a crucial factor and Shanghai is no exception, boasting the longest straight on the calendar at an incredible 1202 metres.