Simone Albergoni continued his impressive form in the 2008 World Enduro Championship claiming two podium finishes at the second round of the series, the Grand Prix of Portugal staged in Vale de Cambra. Earning a well-deserved victory on Day1 Simone battled hard on Day2 to place 2nd and finished less than six seconds behind winner Ivan Cervantes despite a costly mistake on the extreme test. Having recorded his best ever start to a world championship season at the recent GP of Sweden, Simone showed in Portugal that no matter how challenging the conditions he is certainly ready to take the E1 title fight to his class rivals.

Winning 6 of the opening day's 9 special tests, Simone took control of the Enduro 1 class early on with a winning performance on the opening enduro foray. With world champions Mika Ahola and Ivan Cervantes applying considerable pressure to the Italian throughout the opening day the Yamaha rider remained error- free and managed to maintain his lead. Knowing that just one mistake on the challenging Portuguese terrain would easily end his hopes of victory, Simone topped two of the third and final lap's three special tests to claim a well-deserved victory. Albergoni placed ahead of round one winner Mika Ahola with former E1 world champion Ivan Cervantes third.

Proceedings took a turn for the worse on Day2 as heavy rain ensured the three Portuguese special tests became heavily rutted and even harder to ride than on Day1. Despite the atrocious conditions Simone again performed extremely well aboard his WR250F. Winning the first special test as he had on day one, Simone wasn't quite able to match Cervantes for pace during the opening lap. On lap two a mistake in the extreme test saw him lose six seconds to the Spaniard and despite his best efforts he wasn't quite able to repeat his Day1 achievement. Finishing the second day less than six seconds away from the top step of the podium Simone importantly again placed ahead of round one winner Mika Ahola.

Albergoni is currently second in the standings, just three points behind Ahola.

For Albergoni's UFO Corse Yamaha team mates Maurizio Micheluz and Cristobal Guerrero the GP of Portugal was one of mixed fortunes. Not pleased with his performances at the opening round of the series in Sweden, Micheluz claimed a solid 5th place finish on Day1 but then disappointingly failed to finish Day2 with an ignition problem. For Guerrero, who following his early season shoulder injury is still not 100 per cent bike fit, the Portuguese event was extremely hard. The Spaniard was 7th on Day1 and managed to improve his result by one position on Day2 but was far from happy with his results.

The next stop of the 2008 WEC series is Cristobal's home race - the GP of Spain at Sitges, just south of Barcelona.

Simone Albergoni (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 1st, Day 2 2nd:
"It's been another good race for me. My speed is good but importantly my confidence also now. I'm really looking forward to the rest of the season because I know I can compete against the two world champions that are in the Enduro 1 class - Cervantes and Ahola. I had two small crashes on day one but I was still able to win by one second so I am really pleased with that. After a small mistake in the extreme test I pushed as hard as I could but Ivan Cervantes was really fast. I finished five seconds behind, which is good but a little bit disappointing as I could have won again without that mistake."

Cristobal Guerrero (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 7th, Day 2 5th:
"It's been a really tough race for me because I haven't been able to do as much training ahead of the world championship races as I needed to do because of my shoulder injury. I took as many points as possible here in Portugal but I still don't feel completely comfortable in all of the special tests. The next race is my home race in Spain, so I hope that there I can get the kind of results I know I'm capable of."

Maurizio Micheluz (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 5th, Day 2 DNF:
"The first day was tough but I am pleased with my fifth place result. After the first race of the world championship in the snow I was looking forward to competing in more normal conditions. I was close behind fourth position so I was very happy. Day two was very difficult and disappointingly I had a problem with my bike on the first lap. The problem was the ignition and I wasn't able to finish the day."