Indianapolis, 12 September 2008: LCR Honda MotoGP rider Randy De Puniet clocked the 12th fastest lap time at today’s opening free practice sessions at Indianapolis Speedway race track which hosts the 14th round of the calendar. Both sessions were conducted on wet track as the circuit was hit by torrential rain since this morning and the premier class riders had a longer first free session to study the 4.216 Km of the American track.

Riding the Michelin-shod Honda RC212V nr. 14, Randy de Puniet focused his work mainly on tyre testing on the rain-lashed and slippery track clocking his quickest lap time of 1’55.072 despite the right arm pain due to the Misano crash. The fastest time overall today was set by Australian rider Anthony West (1’53.034).

De Puniet – 12th: “Obviously it’s really hard in these conditions. We hoped to get some dry track time to learn the circuit and to test our bike but it’s the same for everybody. We had a good selection of tyres and we just need to find the best choice for us. Our position is not related to our potential but I decided to use this first exit to learn the track. This afternoon, at the end of the session, the track was extremely slippery and preferred to take it easy. The first part is a real disaster bur after that I could easily ride as I would like. The right arm still aches a lot but I did not take any painkiller; if the things go worse I will take some tomorrow for the qualifying session”.

Free Practice:

1 West (1’53.034)
2 De Angelis (1’53.151)
3 Stoner (1’53.190)
4 Dovizioso (1’53.704)
5 Hopkins (1’53.715)
6 Vermeulen (1’53.771)
7 Lorenzo (1’53.850)
8 Hayden (1’53.931)
9 Spies (1’54.297)
10 Elias (1’54.616)
11 Rossi (1'54.795)
12 De Puniet (1’55.072)
13 Nakano (1’55.074)
14 Melandri (1’55.292)
15 Edwards (1’55.731)
16 Guintoli (1’56.125)
17 Toseland (1'56.271)
18 Capirossi (1’56.345)
19 Pedrosa (1’56.782)