Loris Capirossi - Photo Credit: Pramac Racing
Loris Capirossi was one of the stars of qualifying at the Australian Grand Prix with tenth his best grid position of the season. The Italian's performance was all the more impressive given the fact that he is making his return this weekend from a shoulder injury.
Capirossi admitted he felt more comfortable with the Pramac Ducati than at any stage this year and hopes this will lead to a strong final stretch in his last Grand Prix season.
“It was hard today as the shoulder gives me pain. Also at the end I had the time to try another fast lap but I choose to stay where I was, which is anyway a good place. The bike reacts well on this track even if in some part we must improve. The Team has also worked really and today I enjoyed again riding. It has been rare this year to have fun while riding, but I hope I will have some other chances before the end of the season.”
Randy de Puniet will start alongside his teammate in 11th but was left to curse his luck after a technical problem forced him to use the spare GP11. The Frenchman felt a place on the third row was possible but hopes to make up for lost ground in the race.
“The plan was to push at the beginning in case it was going to rain during the practice. We did well and were fast straight away being up front in the first six positions for a while. The weather kept dry and when it was time to use the last two soft tyres we found some problems starting bike number one, the one I was using. So we had to switch to bike two and the feeling wasn't the same. We were quite unlucky as I am quite positive the third row was a sure thing. Hopefully we will get back the luck we miss out today during the race!”
