Monterey, 18 July 2008: Free practice for the U.S. Grand Prix was held in cool conditions today at the Laguna Seca circuit, with LCR Honda MotoGP rider Randy De Puniet struggling with rear grip. Under clear, sunny skies with ambience temperature of 22°C at the 3.610 km Californian circuit, De Puniet concentrated his job mainly on tyre testing but was not able to set his pace ending 17th.

The Frenchman aboard the Michelin-shod Honda RC212V set his quickest fast time of 1’23.955 on lap 25 of 31 in the afternoon session improving this morning lap time of 4 tenths. However the 27-year-old, who got the sixth place on this track last year, aims to close the gap in tomorrow’s qualifying session. Stoner set a 1’21.826 fastest lap.

De Puniet – 17th: “Honestly we did not expect to end the first day of practices in 17th position but we are struggling a lot with rear grip. We tried many tyres but it seems that only one is working properly. We used that this morning and then, after 34 laps, we decided to save it for the afternoon session so I was able to do my lap time. We should improve also the bike set-up in the corner entry but the most important thing is to solve the rear grip lack. I could not open the throttle when I wanted and we tried to fix it but I do not feel comfortable yet”.