Randy de Puniet was angry with fellow Pramac rider Loris Capirossi after the Italian made an error late in the session which baulked his teammate. The Frenchman was on a personal best lap before having to take avoiding action as he encountered his slowing teammate.
De Puniet was particularly disappointed because he felt a place in the top ten was possible. As it is, he will start down in 15th.
“I'm very disappointed with how things went. I'll start from the fifth row, and I expected a better position. Unfortunately, the asphalt lost a lot of grip, so it was difficult to go fast. We had tried some different solutions this morning, but we returned to the standard setting. Things got better, but not much. I was doing a good time on my last lap, when I was behind Simoncelli and Valentino, then Capirossi got in front of me right in the last corner, and to avoid hitting him, I was forced to brake hard, which changed my line and caused me to crash. I'm pretty angry and disappointed my Loris' manoeuvre, because I could have had a time that was good enough for at least tenth place.”
Capirossi was also unhappy after qualifying 16th and the Italian also offered his version of the event that angered his teammate.
“I'm pretty disappointed with today. Yesterday we had done some good things, even if we weren't able to reach the second group. Then the track conditions got worse due to this morning's rain, which made the asphalt lose grip, and we were having a hard time. I hoped to go much better, but we weren't able to be consistent or even to improve on yesterday's time. I'm still optimistic for tomorrow. We can have a solid race and make up some positions. As for Randy, I'm sorry for what happened, but I saw him far back and I didn't think I would cause any problem. These things can happen, but I'll definitely be more careful next time.”
