Estoril, 13 April 2008: the LCR Honda MotoGP rider Randy De Puniet made an impressive race at Estoril today starting from the third row but, the Frenchman aboard the Michelin-shod Honda RC212V, crashed in the second-last lap when he was in 7th position. Luckily De Puniet escaped unhurt from the incident and rejoined the Portuguese race ending in 15th position.

The 28-lap race started at 13:00 local time with unpredictable weather conditions after a rain-shower early in the morning and De Puniet got the 6th fastest time in the warm up session with damp surface.
After a bad start from the 8th place the 27-year French rider started to set his pace and was consistently fast passing many riders till the 7th position ahead Toseland at 3 laps to go. Then, at turn 4, De Puniet made a mistake in the middle of the corner and went out in the gravel. Lorenzo won his first premier class race followed by Pedrosa and Rossi.

De Puniet – 15th: “I am very disappointed! After my third bad start of the season I knew that I could go faster and catch the first 5 positions so I began to lap consistently fast. The bike set-up and the tyres were pretty good therefore I felt comfortable for the rest of the race and was able to pass several riders including Toseland. Then, in the second-last lap at turn nr. 4, I closed to much the angle in the middle of the corner and lost the front. I went out in the gravel but was able to rejoin the race getting the 15th position which is not the result we expected. Honestly with a better start I would have been able to catch Hopkins and probably Edwards. Anyway I want to thank my team for the great work they did in this week end and we will proceed with our set-up work in tomorrow’s testing day before the Chinese GP”.


Race Classification:

1 Lorenzo
2 Pedrosa
3 Rossi
4 Edwards
5 Hopkins
6 Stoner
7 Toseland
8 Vermeulen
9 Capirossi
10 Nakano
11 De Angelis
12 Elias
13 Melandri
14 Guintoli
15 De Puniet
16 West

OUT: Hayden, Dovizioso