Pramac Racing Catalunya GP Friday Report

First Day Of Free Practice In Barcelona. De Puniet Thirteenth, Capirossi Right Behind Him

Rain has characterized the fifth Grand Prix of the 2011 MotoGP season at Barcelona. Nonetheless, the asphalt was still wet in the afternoon session after the morning and early afternoon rain, prompting most riders to spend considerable time in their garages, waiting for the track to dry. That was the case for Randy De Puniet, who didn’t trust these conditions and preferred to wait until 20 minutes remained in the session before riding his Ducati. The Frenchman’s personal best lap time of the day was a 1’45.821 that came in the first free practice. The situation was similar for Loris Capirossi who, despite turning some more laps on the track, wasn’t able to improve his best lap time of 1’46.136. At day’s end, therefore, the two Pramac Racing Team riders were in thirteenth and fourteenth position. The final practice sessions are scheduled for tomorrow morning, with qualifying to take place in the afternoon.

Marco Rigamonti – Randy De Puniet Track Engineer


“The track conditions were so strange that drawing conclusions is difficult. We don’t know if some of the changes worked or not. This morning’s problem with the front disappeared in the afternoon, but another one emerged! We need to understand if the other riders also had difficulty with the track conditions. Tomorrow, assuming the rain holds off, we’ll work on solving the problem.”


Randy de Puniet

Photo by: Pramac Racing

Randy De Puniet – Pramac Racing Team – 13th fastest time in 1’45.821



“It wasn’t a simple day for us. The weather conditions didn’t help, especially in the afternoon. This morning I once again experienced the same problem with the bike’s front end, especially on corner exits. In the second session, on the other hand, we experienced some other problems. Honestly, I can’t understand what happened, but the feeling with the bike was completely the opposite between the two sessions. We must try to solve this problem, or we’ll have troubles on Sunday.”

Loris Capirossi – Pramac Racing Team – 14th fastest time in 1’46.136



“The weather conditions aren’t helping us lately. Weather can always shuffle the cards, and we, who are already experiencing more problems than the others lately, have to work twice as hard. I must admit that we go better in the wet; I won’t deny that if it rains tomorrow too, maybe I could do better. Anyway, the Team is working well, and we must continue doing so.”

-source: pramac racing