Monday, 10th March 2008

"Loris apologised to the team after the race for the result, but there was no need to do so" - Paul Denning.


Loris Capirossi may be the oldest rider on the MotoGPgrid, but his desire to succeed is as strong as ever - so much so that he apologised to his new Rizla Suzuki team for finishing eighth, five places higher than he'd qualified, during Sunday's season opening Qatar Grand Prix.

The Losail circuit had taunted Suzuki during the final pre-season test and the GSV-R continued to struggle on the cool asphalt during the inaugural night race.

Nevertheless, 34-year-old Capirossi fought his way past Alex de Angelis, Randy de Puniet, team-mate Chris Vermeulen, John Hopkins and Nicky Haydento finish as the third-best Bridgestonerider - although that was of little consolation.

"For sure I am not happy because our target is to fight for the podium or victories, and at the moment we are a bit off that," said Loris. "We tried to do our best in the race and compared to the test and the practices here this week we certainly went a little bit better in the race. I really want to thank my team because they gave me a good opportunity to try my best this weekend with the bike they prepared for me. We now have another 17 races left and we can certainly improve a lot in them!"

"It was a proud moment for Suzuki and the team to see Loris make his first start in a grand prix on the GSV-R," said team manager Paul Denning. "It is no secret that we had a difficult test here a week ago and Loris's 13th position on the grid didn't make a top result easy.

"It was great to see him push so hard and fight his way through - unfortunately by the time he got to eighth position the lead group had gone and there was nothing more he could do other than maintain his position. He apologised to the team after the race for the result, but there was no need to do so - he gave his maximum and I think we will have many better days than this one."

Also searching for better days is Vermeulen, who suffered a nightmare start to the new season when he was forced to pit for a front tyre change, dropping him to the back of the field.

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