Coventry born Cal Crutchlow finished fifth in the MotoGP in Estoril.
Thw Yahama rider from Wyken who now lives on the Isle Of Man had started on the front row but coud not get near winner Casey Stoner and second placed Jorge Lorenzo.
Speaking after the race to his website, Crutchlow said: “I'm pretty happy with fifth place but I would like to have been a bit closer to the top three like I was in Jerez."
"Fair play to Andrea because he rode a great race once he passed me early on and it didn't matter how much pressure I put on him, he never cracked. I certainly couldn't have done anything else to try and pass him but it is another top five finish and I am still fourth in the points."
"I had a couple of issues, which didn't help me. I knew rear grip was going to be an issue in the race and that's how it turned out. I'm not really sure why so we will have to have a close look at the data to understand this. Stopping the bike was also a bit of a problem and it felt like I was having to push a lot harder than the four in front of me to run the times. But it was a good race with Andrea and we have carried on the momentum from the first two races and now we can look forward to Le Mans."
"That's a massive weekend for Monster and Tech 3 Yamaha, so I'll be determined to be back fighting for the podium again.”