Shanghai, 3 May 2008: LCR Honda MotoGP Team racer Randy De Puniet made positive steps forward today at the Shanghai International circuit recording the 9th quickest time in the afternoon qualifying session with a fastest lap of 1’59.357 from his 21 laps.

Today’s track temperature reached 46°C while the air temperature went up to 29°C and the 27-year-old French rider started his big progress in the third free session of the morning cutting more than one second from his yesterdays best lap time. De Puniet and the LCR squad focused their efforts on the Honda RC212V’s suspension regulations, chassis set-up and tyre combination gaining the third row for the 22-lap race that gets underway at 15:00 local time tomorrow.
Today’s frontrunner Edwards set a 1’58.139 best lap time followed by Rossi and Stoner.

De Puniet – 9th: “After yesterday’s technical problems which prevented me to go faster, we finally found our good pace especially on race tyres. The situation improved a lot and now I can ride with more confidence. We fixed some things before this morning free session such as engine mapping to control the braking stability, power delivery to make the bike smoother, the chassis geometry and the suspension setting. I suffered a small crash in the last lap on q-tyres but the most important thing is my pace on race tyres. At the end I was able to lap consistently fast even though we still have some things to adjust in tomorrow’s warm up session. We need to fix the front feeling in two corners but I feel very satisfied about the job we made and thank all my Team for their efforts”.


Qualifying Session:

1 Edwards (1’58.139)
2 Rossi (1’58.494)
3 Stoner (1’58.591)
4 Lorenzo (1’58.711)
5 Pedrosa (1’58. 855)
6 Capirossi (1’58.941)
7 Toseland (1’59.254)
8 Vermeulen (1’59.3259
9 De Puniet (1’59.357)
10 Hayden (1’59.507)
11 Dovizioso (1’59.559)
12 Melandri (1’59.678)
13 Nakano (1’59.716)
14 Hopkins (1’59.740)
15 Elias (1’59.933)
16 De Angelis (2’00.316)
17 Guintoli (2’00.760)
18 West (2’00.838)