Barrichello visits the Lisbon Downtown

Rubens Barrichello was in Portugal last weekend supporting Honda's downhill mountain bike team at the world's most prestigious and notorious street race, the amazing Lisbon Downtown. Building up for his own street race in Monte Carlo, Rubens joined Team G Cross Honda in the paddock on Saturday morning for a technical briefing on the Honda RN01 bike and a look at the inner workings of its state of the art gearbox.

Barrichello was then given the opportunity to take the RN01 for a short test ride, followed by a photo call with the Honda riders Greg Minnaar (RSA), Matti Lehikoinen (FIN) and Brendan Fairclough (GBR).

After lunch with the media and race organisers, Rubens watched from the finish line as Honda's Greg Minnaar and Matti Lehikoinen qualified an impressive second and eighth for the event final. Apart from a few scary moments with over excited spectators crowding the course, Matti's final run was flawless and he finished fifth - his best result in the Lisbon Downtown. Unfortunately for Greg, one of the pre-race favourites, an over-the-handlebar crash at the top of the course put an end to his chances of victory.

“It was a really good day and great to be able to support Honda's downhill mountain bike team at such a prestigious event,” reported Rubens “It's pretty amazing what these guys do but quite crazy! The Honda bike is incredible – I'm really interested in its technology and they talked me through how the gearbox works, the suspension, brakes and how they set up the bike for the different races. I really enjoyed meeting Greg, Matti, Brendan and all the G Cross guys, too.”

The Honda riders were thrilled to have a proven grand prix winner cheering them on. "To have so many guests join us from Honda F1 was really impressive. What’s more, to have some time to chat with Rubens, really motivated me to do the best I could for the team," enthused Lehikoinen.