Randy de Puniet was quick to thank his crew today, after changes made to his Ninja ZX-RR overnight all but eliminated the chatter problems that plagued the Frenchman yesterday, allowing him to secure a second row start for tomorrow's British Grand Prix during this afternoon's hour-long qualifying session. The Kawasaki rider finished yesterday's free practice sessions down in a disappointing 14th position on the timesheet, but with his confidence restored in the front-end of his Ninja ZX-RR this morning, de Puniet was able to up the pace and claim a place in the top ten.
The 25-year-old Frenchman remained in the top ten on race tyres for the first 45 minutes of this afternoon's all-important qualifying session, as his crew continued to improve the set-up of his Ninja ZX-RR, before claiming fifth position, and a place on the second row, with his final flying lap on a qualifying tyre.
De Puniet's qualifying prowess has been evident all season, but the Kawasaki pilot is determined to finally realise his full potential by translating today's outstanding qualifying performance into a good result in tomorrow's 30-lap race.
Starting tomorrow's race one place, and one row, behind de Puniet will be the Frenchman's Kawasaki teammate, Shinya Nakano.
The 28-year-old Japanese rider looked all set to repeat the qualifying performance that put him on the front row last time out at Assen, until a minor mechanical problem with the gearbox on his Ninja ZX-RR meant that he was unable to take advantage of his two remaining qualifying tyres.
Despite his qualifying setback, which will see him start from the third row of the grid, Nakano is confident that the length of tomorrow's race - which will run over 30 laps of the 4.023 km Donington Park circuit - will provide plenty of opportunities to make up places as the race progresses.
Randy de Puniet: 6th - 1'28.428"I'm very happy to secure a second row start today, especially after the problems we had during free practice yesterday. Our technical people did a fantastic job on transforming the bike overnight; the chatter hasn't been completely eliminated, but as my lap time today shows, the bike is a lot easier to ride than it was yesterday. Just as
important as my qualifying time is the fact that I was able to put in consistently fast laps on the tyre that we'll run in tomorrow's race. I'm not so keen on the Donington Park circuit, especially the final sector from the Fogarty Esses to the finish line, but this is the area I concentrated on today, and I'm glad to say we've made an improvement through this section. Starting from the second row of the grid, and with a race tyre that we know works well around this circuit, we have put ourselves in the best possible position for tomorrow's race. Today was a real team effort, so I'd like to thank everyone in the team, and the guys at Bridgestone, for their help. I just hope now that I can translate today's performance into a good race result tomorrow to repay them for all their hard work."
Shinya Nakano: 7th - 1'28.431"I'm a little bit disappointed, as I was expecting better after two good free practice sessions yesterday. Tomorrow's race is 30 laps, which will place a high demand on tyres, so we've concentrated today on confirming our tyre choice for the race. I'm happy to say that, once again, Bridgestone have come up with the goods, and I'm confident the tyre we've selected will perform consistently throughout the race tomorrow. During qualifying I had a small problem with the gearbox on the bike, which meant I missed the chance to use two of my qualifying tyres. For sure I'd rather be starting from the front or even the second row, but the race is long so I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunities to make up places as the race progresses."
Christophe Bourguignon: Crew Chief, Randy de Puniet"Randy didn't have confidence in the front of the bike yesterday because of the chattering problems, which meant that he wasn't able to release the brakes on corner entry where he wanted to and, as a result, lost a considerable amount of time. Overnight we changed a little bit the balance of the bike, moving slightly more weight to the front to improve Randy's confidence in the front-end, and it seems to have worked. He was really pleased with the set-up from the start this morning, and this afternoon we improved it even further with some fine-tuning of both chassis and suspension settings. Randy has put in some consistently fast laps on race tyres, and by qualifying on the second row of the grid he's given himself the best possible chance to show his true potential."
Qualifying Practice - Final Times1. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 1'27.676;
2. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Team Suzuki MotoGP +0.482;
3. Marco Melandri (ITA) Fortuna Honda +0.529;
4. John Hopkins (USA) Team Suzuki MotoGP +0.576;
5. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati Marlboro Team +0.718;
6. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki Racing Team +0.752;
7. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Kawasaki Racing Team +0.755;
8. Casey Stoner (AUS) LCR Honda +0.771;
9. Kenny Roberts (USA) Team Roberts +0.797;
10. Colin Edwards (USA) Camel Yamaha Team +0.805
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