Pramac Racing duo de Puniet, Capirossi took season best finish at Phillip Island - MotoGP news
Pramac Racing duo Randy de Puniet and Loris Capirossi had a moderate start in the Iveco Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island.
The satellite Ducati riders collected their season best finish for Pramac Racing in 2011. De Puniet was sixth, while Capirossi took ninth across the finish line.
Capirossi had a start from tenth position on the gird, whereas his teammate de Puniet was 11th behind him. The race was significantly affected by unpredictable weather conditions. The both Pramac riders were having trouble to maintain their positions
in the race.
De Puniet said, “I fought with the group for the ninth position until four laps left in the race when the rain was back on the track. I saw the other riders continue to ride fast as if the track was dry and then I saw them sliding off in front of me, one
by one.”
The Frenchman added that he was content as the race was conducted, under tough situations. The qualifying practice session was also great and the race day went even better.
Though De Puniet started the race from behind his teammate, but he shortly made a pass over him. The struggle cost the Frenchman to lose some time. Following his pass over teammate he started to chase Colin Edwards of Monster Yamaha Tech3 and Nicky Hayden
of Ducati Team.
Then, the rain hit the track during the chase and he went wide on the track again costing him ten seconds of delay.
The pour down on the track was declared with white flags. Some riders turned to pit lane for their secondary bikes with wet tyres. Few riders that continued race on dry tyres crashed, but De Puniet had confidence to continue with the same setup.
Capirossi stated, “I started well but after a few laps with the pain in my shoulder and the weather changing, I tried to manage the race to complete it. When there were four laps left, I felt very heavy rain coming down just before the final straight and
then I thought it was appropriate to enter the pits to change bike.”
His choice to not to change the bike cost him couple of positions in the finish. He also endured pain in his shoulder.
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