Donington, 26 July: the LCR Honda MotoGP rider Randy De Puniet got a storming 3rd place in today’s 30-lap British Grand Prix at Donington Park. The tenth round of the season started today at 15:30 local time and was held in damp conditions with cloudy skies and some poor rain in the last part of the race.

De Puniet posted the tenth lap time in yesterday’s sunny qualifying session at the 4.023 Km British track but this morning warm up session was conducted in the wet with De Puniet clocking an impressive 5th lap time. Started from the fourth row he ended the first lap in eight place setting consistent lap times in the front. At 21 laps to go the Frenchman riding the Honda RC212V started a thrilling battle with Pedrosa for the third place (Elias, Lorenzo and Rossi crashed out) and a closest one with Ewdards for the second place until the last corner. Randy is now holding the 8th position in the championship with 74 points. The MotoGP circus will now have a break of two weeks before the next Czech Republic GP on the 16 of August.

De Puniet – 3rd

De Puniet: “It’s like a dream for me and the Team! It has been a very stressful race and I was very nervous on the grid as the conditions were pretty bad. I took a good start on slick tyres and was very aggressive in the first laps. I got the sixth place but the gap on the front riders was too wide and thought to keep my pace without taking any risk. Elias crashed in front of me and Pedrosa did not seem very confident on his machine. When he started to loose time I took my chance to pass him and we battled for several laps. I could overtake him as my machine was a bit faster and suddenly realized that I was holding the third position. After Rossi’s crash I took the second one remaining focused as the surface was very slippery. Then Edwards came up quickly giving me the chance to reduce the gap on Dovizioso but it was too late and too dangerous so I kept my position and we battled for the second place until the last corner. I am so happy for this result and want to thank everybody especially Lucio. We are sharing an amazing moment together!”