Loris Capirossi believes he can end his MotoGP career on a high at Valencia after a promising performance in Friday practice. The Italian veteran was quickest for a spell in today's opening session and ended the morning in fifth.
"I'm happy with how the morning went, and I'm very optimistic for tomorrow," he said. "We can do well."
He was less content with his afternoon form, when he fell to 12th, but felt this was due to a tire issue.
"It was a bad afternoon," said Capirossi. "The tires didn't work, so in the final minutes, we had to use my tires from this morning. They were a bit worn, but I still managed to improve my second session time by three seconds."
Capirossi's teammate Randy de Puniet was third fastest in second practice and also optimistic that he could sign off for 2011 with a very strong performance.
"I'm satisfied," he said. "The track this morning was quite dry, particularly at the end of the session, and I finished in seventh place. In the afternoon, with the wet track instead, I did well, ending with the seventh-best lap time [overall].
"The feeling with the bike is good, I hope it will also be tomorrow. There are many chances to close this season with a good result, even if the my thoughts are to Marco and his family."