Indianapolis, 29 August: The sun shined today at Indianapolis Speedway race track for final qualifying and the LCR Honda MotoGP Team racer Randy De Puniet qualified in 12th position for tomorrow’s 28-lap race. After yesterday’s torrential rain which brought memories back of last year’s hurricane, blue skies and ambience temperature of 27°C welcomed the premier class riders today at the spectacular 4.216 Km American circuit which hosts the 12th round of the calendar.

Yesterday, in full rain conditions, the Frenchman aboard the Honda RC212V no. 14 set the 13th quickest time of the day at the rain-soaked Indianapolis as he wisely stopped the session earlier to protect his injured left ankle. The Indy layout, with  10 lefts and six rights, is taxing the limits of De Puniet’s pain threshold but he bravely gained the fourth row with a best lap time of 1’41.773. Today’s poleman Pedrosa set his fastest lap time of 1’39.730 followed by Lorenzo and Rossi.

De Puniet –12th: “As my ankle improved quite a lot after Brno race, we came here with better expectations but this circuit is very demanding with many left corners. That’s why I am struggling a lot and when it’s time to push on the foot rest I honestly do not feel comfortable.  I must force with the arms to change direction in the corners and after few laps I feel tired. The Team will improve the machine a bit more to help me and I will attempt to end in the top ten once again. It’s important to score points to maintain my place in the classification”.