Zoom Randy de Puniet

LCR Honda MotoGP Team racer Randy de Puniet began to set up his Honda machine with the seventh fastest time in today's wet free practice sessions at the Ricardo Tormo circuit which hosts the ultimate round of 2008 season this week end.

In cool and rainy autumn conditions, Randy worked through his Michelin race tyre and set-up options aboard his Honda RC212V for Sunday's 30-lap race.

The 27-yeard-old struggled with rear grip and right wrist pain in this morning fully wet first free session at the 4.005 Km race track but improved his pace in the afternoon's session clocking his quickest time of 1'46.807. Randy will continue further evaluation of rear tyres in tomorrow's practice and qualifying. American rider Nicky Hayden set the fastest time of the day (1'45.777).

“The weather is very bad and it's not easy to ride in these conditions. This morning, in the wet, I decided to avoid any unnecessary risk as my wrist still aches a lot so we made only 6 laps”, he explained. “Then in the afternoon we faced some rear grip issues but we could not really fixed them but, after some suspension adjustments, my pace in the wet started to be more consistent. I am really pleased with the overall package but I am worried about my wrist because it's very hard for me to ride in these conditions”.

© CAPSIS International