DE PUNIET ENDS IN THE TOP TEN IN QATAR GP

Losail, 13 April: LCR Honda MotoGP racer Randy De Puniet finished in 10^th position the night race at Qatar floodlit track. With a track temperature of 26°C the premier class riders got underway the first GP of the 2009 season at 21:00 local time after the cancellation of yesterdays race due to a rainstorm which is unusual for the desert circuit. Following on from an impressive practice session, Stoner won the opening round followed by Yamaha riders Rossi and Lorenzo.

After Saturday’s positive qualifying session (7^th place), the Frenchman aboard the Honda RC212V nr. 14 started from the third row for the 22-lap event ending the first lap in 7^th position but he struggled with front tyre for the whole race and managed to finish in the top ten.

De Puniet – 10^th
De Puniet: “I am a bit disappointed because I expected a better result after my performances in the practice sessions. I made a good start and after that I thought that the race was easy for me. But suddenly I started to suffer grip problems on my front tyre. It was a bit dangerous and did my best to manage the race like this. It’s strange as I did not have this feeling during the whole week end and it was like riding on a soft tyre. My target was the top ten but I could get a better result in different conditions. Anyway we will analyse the data to be more competitive in Japan”.

Race Classification:
1          Stoner (Ducati)
2          Rossi (Yamaha)
3          Lorenzo (Yamaha)
4          Edwards (Yamaha)
5          Dovizioso(Honda)
6          De Angelis(Honda)
7          Vermeulen (Suzuki)
8          Kallio (Ducati)
9          Elias (Honda)
10         De Puniet (Honda)
11        Pedrosa (Honda)
12        Hayden (Ducati)
13        Giberanu (Ducati)
14        Melandri (Kawasaki)
15        Takahashi (Honda)
16        Toseland (Yamaha)
17        Canepa (Ducati)

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