Randy de Puniet gave Pramac Racing their best result of the season so far with a determined ride to eighth in the Indianapolis Grand Prix. The Ducati powered squad has endured a miserable campaign with injuries for both riders costing them points.
But de Puniet edged out Hiroshi Aoyama and Hector Barbera in a thrilling battle to the flag which was decided when the Spaniard slid off the track at the last corner.
“I’m happy, this is my best race of the season! Bad start for the race when Loris touched me and I lost at least three positions, otherwise I could stay with the group and probably I could have fought for better positions. But it's ok, our pace, as I declared yesterday, has been steady and good until the end and this allowed me to overtake many riders in the second half of the race. I’m satisfied with how things went today, the team has worked very well and after a difficult start of the season we all deserve a good result. We needed it and I look forward to continue at this level also next week at Misano.”
There were contrasting fortunes on the opposite side of the garage as Loris Capirossi was forced to retire shortly before half distance. The Italian was struggling with a worn front tyre and eventually took the safe option to pull out.
“Since the fourth lap the bike did not respond as I wanted. I always lost the front tyre and risked falling at every turn. At one point I could no longer manage the bike and I was forced to retire. Just returned to the box we noticed that the front tyre was very worn. I’m so sorry that this happened in the race because during the whole weekend we have never had problems like that. Not much to add, we look ahead and concentrate on Misano where we hope to get a good result in front of our fans.”