Pramac Racing Indianapolis GP qualifying report

Qualifying Session Below Expectations For The Pramac Racing Team At Indianapolis

Randy De Puniet, Pramac Racing Team

Photo by: Bridgestone Corporation

The second day of testing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway had started well enough for the Pramac Racing Team thanks to the ninth and thirteenth position respectively obtained during the morning session by Randy De Puniet and Loris Capirossi. But the afternoon qualifying, valid for the starting grid of the Indianapolis Grand Prix which begins tomorrow at 2pm local time, did not see the green and white riders on the same level. The Frenchman, in fact, finished in twelfth place while the Italian in seventeenth. Tomorrow the twenty-minute warm-up should be used at the best to improve their bikes and be able to fight for better positions during the race.

Marco Rigamonti – Randy De Puniet Track Engineer

"We thought we could improve a lot more with the soft tires, but unfortunately it did not go well. A shame for Randy that he felt good for all tests but missed the final twist in the final minutes of qualifying. We need to definitely improve the set up of the bike tomorrow morning to make the bike more agile in the long corners."

Randy De Puniet – Pramac Racing – 12th in 1’40.815

"The first exit from the pits this afternoon went very well although we had a rear tire with almost twenty laps and after thirty laps I recorded my best lap. Then in the final try, with new tires, we were able to improve by only a few tenths of a second, and this just is not right. I expected more, but we often have difficulties with new tires. I gave everything I had, tomorrow we will have to improve the bike, especially in long-distance curves. Our race pace is good, we aim to enter the top ten!"

Loris Capirossi – Pramac Racing
- 17th in 1’41.092

"I'm disappointed, the team worked very well and the bike was ready. But I was not able to exploit the soft rubber as I should and I was relegated to the rear of the classification. It would take only three tenths less and we were almost in top ten, but this is not enough. We had a good start to the afternoon session but the last few laps we have not just exploited as we should. We hope to redeem in the race tomorrow, even if the shoulder pain is strong and I hope it will not cause me complications in the final part of the race."