Randy de Puniet - Photo Credit: Pramac Racing
Randy de Puniet put in an eye-catching performance in Friday practice, finishing a superb sixth for Pramac Racing. The Frenchman was the quickest Ducati in FP1 which turned out to be the only running for the MotoGP bikes as a power failure forced the cancellation of FP2.
De Puniet was sad to see the second session called off, believing he could have continued in the same vein of form, but is still confident of a strong showing in tomorrow's qualifying session.
“It's a shame that we couldn't go on track in the afternoon, as the morning session went very well. For a long time I've looked for such a good feeling with the bike; it's strange, considering how differently things went at Misano. I'm satisfied. The bike is working like it should, and I want to repeat my performance tomorrow and Sunday.”
With this afternoon's running wiped out, tomorrow morning's session will now be extended to 75 minutes and De Puniet's Track Engineer Marco Rigamonti is hoping to perfect the GP11's race set-up after the 30 year old showed excellent single lap pace.
“Randy told me that he has never had as good a feeling with the bike as he had this morning. In the afternoon we would have worked with an eye toward the race, especially with regards to tyre wear, so it's a shame that the blackout prevented us from riding. We also would have had to try the new frame that we received from Ducati. We'll see if we can do that tomorrow or if we have to save everything until Motegi.”
Teammate Loris Capirossi was particularly disappointed with this afternoon's power cut as he hoped to familiarise himself with the Aragon circuit. The Italian's early impressions were good though and is confident he can improve on 16th tomorrow.
“It's my first time at this circuit, and I must say that the track is beautiful, but difficult. This morning I tried to ride as much as possible, and unfortunately, this afternoon we were stuck in the garage. I'm optimistic anyway. The time that I did this morning shouldn't be considered because I was trying to understand the track. I'm sure that I'll go better tomorrow.”
