Jerez, 29 March 2008: the LCR Honda MotoGP Team rider Randy De Puniet got the second row for tomorrows 27-lap race at the crowded Jerez de la Frontera circuit. The Frenchman riding the Honda RC212V nr. 14 made 22 laps in total in this afternoon qualifying session clocking his quickest time of 1’39.122 on lap 10.

Despite a crash in the first corner at the end of the session, De Puniet gained the 6th position and his Honda is the third fastest on the grid behind Hayden and Pedrosa ones. Thanks to the specific adjustments made in this morning free session, the Frenchman improved his yesterdays lap time of four tenths on race tyres with a ground temperature of 26°.
The Spaniard rider Lorenzo on Yamaha topped the timesheets today with a 1’38.189 lap time followed by Pedrosa on Honda and Edwards on Yamaha.

De Puniet: - 6th: “I am quite happy about this result. The small adjustments we made in this morning free session gave me the chance to go faster and the feeling with the bike on race tyres is quite impressive. We solved our problems of rear traction working on engine mapping and chassis set-up and the pace on race tyres improved of four tenths compared with yesterdays performance. My feeling on Q-tyres is getting better even thought I found some traffic in the middle of the session. In my last lap on qualifiers I was trying to go faster but I made a mistake entering in the first corner and crashed. Anyway the second row was our target and we are pretty confident for tomorrows race”.


Qualifyin Practices:

1 Lorenzo – (1’38.189)
2 Pedrosa – (1’38.789)
3 Edwards – (1’38.954)
4 Hayden – (1’39.061)
5 Rossi – (1’39.064)
6 De Puniet – (1’39.122)
7 Stoner – (1’39.286)
8 Toseland – (1’39.334)
9 Hopkins – (1’39.334)
10 Capirossi – (1’39.484)
11 Nakano – (1’39.559)
12 Vermeulen – (1’39.704)
13 Dovizioso – (1’39.767)
14 De Angelis – (1’40.037)
15 West – (1’40.088)
16 Elias – (1’40.286)
17 Guintoli – (1’40.939)
18 Melandri – (1’41.027)