Capirossi confident after Mugello performance
Added on Tuesday, June 9th, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor
Capirossi confident after Mugello performance
Loris Capirossi heads to Barcelona looking to improve on a credible performance at Mugello two weeks ago and to make up for last year’s injury disappointment.
Capirossi’s season suffered a major setback 12 months ago as he clashed with Alex de Angelis on lap ten at the Catalunya Grand Prix, leaving him with a hand injury that kept him out of the following two rounds at Donington and Assen.
A tenth place finish in the championship followed as the Suzuki rider posted consistent if unspectacular results – something that the team had looked to improve on this year with an intensive winter programme.
Unfortunately for Suzuki, both Capirossi and Chris Vermeulen have remained behind the Honda, Yamaha and Ducati factory teams although Capirossi’s performance in Italy last time out has given the team something to work with.
In the second flag-to-flag race in as many rounds, Capirossi held the lead in Mugello at the mid-point before a lack of power left him trailing the Stoner, Lorenzo and Rossi, putting him back in fifth place – a result that has given the team plenty of encouragement ahead of the trip to southern Spain.
“I didn’t have a good time at Catalunya last year after I was hit by another rider and crashed with some nasty injuries,” said the 36-year-old. “I am determined to put that behind me this year and carry on from where we left off at Mugello.
“We know we will have to work hard on the long straight at Barcelona, but we learnt a lot from the last race and hopefully that will help us this weekend. We have got some new parts coming from Japan which should make a difference to the performance of the GSV-R so we are all quite excited about that.”
Teammate Vermeulen is also hoping that the new parts from Japan can make the difference at what is a “home” race for the Australian.
“The Catalunya circuit is one I really enjoy and we have performed quite well there,” said the 26-year-old. “I would have done better last year but I didn’t get a good run on qualifiers, so without those this year I hope my starting place will reflect my race-pace in practice – something it didn’t do last year.
“The Barcelona race is a bit like a home GP for me as well because I have a place in Andorra so it’s just a short journey down to the event and lots of friends and neighbours come down to support me.
“We are hoping that the upgrades from Suzuki this weekend will work as well on the bike as they have in the factory, we’re not sure if we’ll use them in the race or hang on for the test day, we’ll just have to wait and see.”
