Wishes

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Patrizio, 6 years old

“I wish to meet Valentino Rossi“

One very excited little boy travelled by limousine with his brothers Francesco (8) and David (3) and parents to catch a flight to Portugal. This was day one of Patrizio's wish: to meet his idol the motor racing champion Valentino Rossi. In Lisbon, Make-A-Wish greeted the family and whisked them off to a lovely hotel with a pool so the family could rest before the BIG day! Showered with gifts, Patrizio and his brothers just could not stop smiling and laughing as they got to sit on various motorcycles and have their pictures taken. Soon it was time to also meet Dani Pedrosa and Nicky Hayden.

On the BIG day, Patrizio and his siblings were given a warm VIP reception by Sam at Estoril's GP circuit and ushered into the paddocks to meet not just one champion but many: First, a meeting with Chris Vermeulen in his motorhome, lunch in Honda's hospitality tent, watching a Moto GP practice session then off to meet Randy de Puniet and Anthony West in their garage.

And of course the highlight was meeting Valentino Rossi who gave Patrizio a few tips about not leaning too far over when going round the circuit! To cap the day Patrizio was given a tour of the Estoril circuit in a Safety Car Lap vehicle. What a way to end a truly great day at the races!

Not only does Patrizio love motor racing but he rather likes fish so Make-A-Wish arranged a tour of the Oceanarium where the family was awed by creatures from the sea they had never seen before.

For Patrizio, his wish came true and he now has lots of baseball caps and t-shirts all signed by the world's top racing champions along with some wonderful photographs of his heroes.
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Lots of thank you's to Make-A-Wish Portugal: Mercês, Philippe and Edouardo for making Patrizio's wish so very special. Warm thanks to Sam at MotoGP Estoril who organised Patrizio's day at the paddock. And thank you to Patrizio for the marvellous poster he made for us to commemorate his wish.




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