Randy de Puniet's miserable season continued with another accident in the Dutch TT at Assen. The Frenchman only has ten points to his name after failing to finish five of the first seven races and a crash on lap two meant he couldn't add to that tally.
The Pramac Ducati rider felt a top-ten finish was possible, adding to the disappointment in what is proving to be a nightmare of a season for the 30-year-old.
“I am really upset for what happened today. I wanted to end this race with a good result, but I slipped at the beginning of the second lap. This negative period seem a never-ending story for me and for my Team. Today I could have at least finished in eighth or ninth position. I am very sorry and I have to apologise specially to my Team and my technicians, who are working always in the best way possible for me, but today I made a big mistake and I lost control of my bike. I hope that the Ducati will be ready to give the best at Mugello, I will sure push to the maximum to do well.”
Marco Rigamonti, De Puniet's technical engineer, advised his rider not to change his style, adding that the luck will soon turn his way.
“When we have the opportunity to fight for an important position in the standing we always find a complication. We are quite disappointed, mostly because we never managed to end a race with dry track conditions. Randy has to be calm now and he can't lose his concentration because this could be the worst thing. He has to stay focused and don't be afraid to push to the maximum. We have to reset everything, from Mugello a new season is beginning for us.”
Pramac Racing technical director Fabiano Sterlacchini refused to criticise his rider and feels it is proof of the difficulty on cold tyres, something he feels the governing body need to look at.
“Another unlucky race, to be forgotten. Something always goes wrong. We keep having high side problems with the bikes and maybe we should revaluate the technical rules of the championship. Too many riders fall too easily during the first laps and to my point of view this is not causality. Randy has made a mistake, but he is not the only rider who had this kind of accident. Now we have to try to stay focused and don't lose our concentration to improve our results starting from the next Grand Prix at Mugello”.
De Puniet's crash competed a terrible weekend for the Pramac team after Loris Capirossi dislocated his shoulder and damaged his ribs during qualifying.
