The 23-year-old Ducati rider finished a distant 11th at Jerez after running off-track twice on a circuit he and Bridgestone had always expected to struggle on.
But the Australian, who is now 11 points behind Dani Pedrosa in the title chase, intends to make amends in the Portuguese Grand Prix, where he believes his GP8 will once again be capable of fighting at the front on Bridgestone tyres.
"Last year we did well in practice, we were very close to pole position and then had a slight technical problem in the race but finished on the podium," he said. "In theory if we can work well from the start and there are no nasty surprises then we should be in the fight for the win."
Teammate Marco Melandri is less confident that Estoril will prove a Ducati-friendly track.
The Italian, who damaged a finger in a testing accident at Jerez on Monday, is still struggling to find a working set-up with the bike.
"Estoril is probably another track that we won't be best friends with but it's pointless trying to predict - we'll have to wait and see how we get on when we arrive," he said.
"It will be important to be good on the brakes and find a compromise in the setting. I hope we can start out better in practice and then improve throughout - something I've not managed to do yet.
"The finger I hurt in Jerez is practically recovered - I don't think I'll even need a bandage."
autosport.com