The Pramac Ducati team have not had the greatest of starts to the 2011 MotoGP season and they will be looking to Randy De Puniet to turn some of the flashes of speed that he has shown on the Ducati into a consistent race pace. This weekend’s race in Le Mans is the Frenchman’s home GP and is the perfect stage for De Puniet to get his season back on track.

Easier said than done considering that De Puniet missed the recent Estoril test session with pain in his knee and needed to fly home to France for treatment. The Pramac Ducati riders discuss this weekend’s French MotoGP below:

Fabio Sterlacchini – Pramac Racing Technical Director
“We worked a lot on the bike at the Estoril test, especially Loris, since Randy unfortunately was affected by his painful knee. The problem at the last race was the front end, so we tried various solutions, and perhaps one of those could help us go forward with our development once and for all. The circuit seems custom-made for our bike: it doesn’t have long straights to speak of, so a lot depends on the riders. We’re pleased with the most recent results, and we need to stay on that path. Randy’s injury is really a shame, as he was taking big steps. I hope he’ll be ready for Sunday anyway.”

Randy De Puniet – Pramac Racing Team Rider
“I must say that I was very worried about my knee after the race in Estoril. When I got off the bike, I immediately feared the worst. I thought that the ligaments might have been injured during the race, but fortunately the doctor visits I’ve made have excluded that possibility. It needs rest, but we’ve had very few days off. The problem had to do with the blood circulation around the scar after the screw was removed. I’m calm and happy to race in front of my fans, on home ground. I wasn’t able to test the bike like everyone else did at Estoril, but I hope to have the same approach with the bike that we had in Qatar and at Jerez.”

Loris Capirossi – Pramac Racing Team Rider
“The test after the Estoril race showed that we’re making progress with the bike. The problem with the front seems to have been solved, along with some other small issues. Sure, the bike isn’t perfect, but the work we carried out makes us optimistic about the future. We want to show our capability, and we hope we’ll be able to do that. As I said after the last race, we’re only getting started. We have plenty of time to put together a great bike. Everything depends on us, and we’re confident.”

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