Randy de Puniet - Photo Credit: Pramac Racing
Randy de Puniet felt he missed out on the chance to start on the second row after a promising start to qualifying at Aragon. The Frenchman found himself on the provisional front row midway through the session after an excellent run on the hard tyres, but failure to improve on the softer option saw him slip back to tenth.
De Puniet tried to remain positive though and believes he can still have a strong race from the fourth row.
“It's a shame how things went, but that's how it goes. I gave my all both this morning and this afternoon. I'm tenth, just a few tenths from the sixth and seventh positions. I wasn't able to do a lap like I needed with the soft tyre; just consider that my best time was set with the hard. I would have liked to start from the third row, but anyway, my starting spot isn't so terrible. I'm convinced that I can have a good race.”
De Puniet's Track Engineer, Marco Rigamonti, agreed that a place in the top six was possible but knows the pace is in the GP11, and hopes to extract it in the race.
“It's a shame, because we did a good time with the hard tyre. Randy made a few mistakes with the soft tyre, and he told us he could have cut off at least three tenths. We could have started from the third or even the second row. Anyway, the important thing is to start well tomorrow, in the race. The race pace is good, as is the rider's feeling with the bike.”
Pramac Racing teammate Loris Capirossi finished down in 16th but didn't feel the result was too bad given his lack of experience at Aragon.
“What a nice track, and even if the results suggest otherwise, I was able to improve my time quite a bit. Having one less session hurt us a little more than the other riders, who already knew the track. I'm sure that tomorrow I'll manage to further lower my time, and since we're all very close, anything can happen. For being here for the first time, it didn't go so badly.”
