The Pramac Ducati pairing of Randy De Puniet and Loris Capirossi got their weekends off to starts that were polar opposites of each other. De Puniet made steady improvements throughout both sessions to eventually beat his time in the second session to finish 6th, just 0.26s behind 5th placed factory Ducati rider Valentino Rossi.
After the session, De Puniet said, “I’m quite happy about the work we have done. We changed many little things compared to the morning and the results can be seen. The feeling with the bike is good on this track. We can do well if we remain consistent with the work done today. It remains to improve a bit with the traction control; we’ll do it tomorrow. The wind was strong, it is not easy to run in this condition”.
Loris Capirossi on the other hand struggled with the windy conditions despite the heat, and also felt some discomfort in his right shoulder. This was enough to ensure that the Italian finished the day in 16th.
“Compared to this morning we went a little bit better. I continue to struggle with the front of the bike, I don’t feel the right feeling with this part. We are trying different solutions, but we are not yet where we would like to be. The shoulder problems persist, even worst despite the infiltration that I did. I hope tomorrow the situation will change. We need to improve, we have everything to do so,” said Capirossi.
