Randy de Puniet was relieved to get back towards the front of a MotoGP grid after qualifying on the third row for the first time since the beginning of April. The Pramac Ducati has been on the pace since the start of first practice and the Frenchman put it to good use on Saturday afternoon at the Sachsenring.
De Puniet added that felt the improvement from the first time he left the garage this weekend, and the boost in confidence has propelled him to ninth on the grid.
“I'm pretty pleased with the work carried out over these two days, and as I said yesterday, it's been a long time since I last left the garage happy. At the moment, everything is going according to our plans. I'm able to go fast with both the hard and soft tyres. We'll try some things tomorrow morning, specifically with the front. I'm pleased with my ninth place, which a good start going into the race.”
Randy De Puniet's track engineer, Marco Rigamonti, feels the team have found the right direction with the set-up of the bike, and hopes to capitalise with some solid points tomorrow.
“Today went rather well. This morning Randy was complaining about the rear, so this afternoon we tried two different solutions. One was pretty effective, and we'll use it again tomorrow. If the temperature is similar to todays, I think we'll start with the hard tyres, which give our rider more consistency and stability. In the Warm-Up, we'll do a little experiment with the front and see what happens, but we're more likely to not change much on the bike's setup, considering the good results we've had these two days.”
Teammate Sylvain Guintoli continued to acclimatise to the Ducati after stepping in for Loris Capirossi on Friday, but couldn't avoid being the slowest qualifier. Despite that, the 29 year old feels that progress has definitely been made.
“We're a little far from the other riders, but anyway my feeling with the bike has improved compared to this morning. My tyres were ruined when I came back to the garage, and that could present a problem for the race. I did my best, and tomorrow I'll have to try to have a good race.”
