Donington, 20 June 2008: LCR Honda MotoGP rider Randy De Puniet clocked the 10th fastest lap time at today’s opening free practice sessions at Donington Park for the British Grand Prix.
The Frenchman aboard the Michelin-shod Honda RC212V nr. 14 went about his business in dry conditions with ambience temperature of 19°C and made a total of 55 laps throughout the day.

After the disappointment of last race in Barcelona, the 27-year-old is determined to bounce back on the track where he got the victory in 2005 aboard the 250cc machine. So Randy focused his work mainly on tyre testing and chassis set-up today posting his best lap time of 1’29.443 as the weather forecast for tomorrow is for rain showers. The fastest time overall today was set by Australian rider Casey Stoner (1’28.253).

De Puniet – 10th: “This morning we had some traction problems but we solved them for the afternoon’s session. Anyway I still do not feel confident with the front-end in the corner entry. Compared with this morning the situation improved a bit because we reduced the gap but we still have to adjust it. If we find the right way to fix the front I can easily shave some tenths but it seems that the weather is getting worse tomorrow. If so we will have to work on bike setting in wet conditions especially on tyre testing to get the correct pace on race tyres in any condition”.


Free Practice:

1 Stoner (1’28.2539
2 Hayden (1’28.829)
3 Rossi (1’28.909)
4 Edwards (1’28.969)
5 De Angelis (1’28.992)
6 Pedrosa (1’29.207)
7 Nakano (1’29.207)
8 Toseland (1’29.341)
9 Vermeulen (1’29.410)
10 De Puniet (1’29.433)
11 Hopkins (1’29.441)
12 West (1’29.666)
13 Dovizioso (1’29.722)
14 Melandri (1’29.856)
15 Elias (1’30.268)
16 Lorenzo (1’30.290)
17 Spies (1’30.766)
18 Guintoli (1’30.931)