Assen, 27 June 2008: Qualifying for the Ducth Grand Prix was run in dry conditions today with ambience temperature of 20°C despite some rain showers in the morning free session.
LCR Honda MotoGP rider Randy De Puniet made solid progress ending the day 5th gaining another good result in qualifying after the 4th place at Barcelona some weeks ago.

After some set-up changes to his Michelin-shod Honda RC212V nr. 14, the 27-year-old was in a sparkling form at the 4.555Km historic track clocking the 2nd fastest lap time in the morning free session in the wet. De Puniet will start from the second row tomorrow for the 26-lap race thanks to his best lap time of 1’35.985 less than five tenths off the quickest lap of the day.

The ninth round of the season gets underway at 14:00 local time with Stoner heading the front row followed by Pedrosa and Rossi.

De Puniet – 5th: “It was a good week end so far because I feel comfortable on the bike and all the practices sessions were pretty positive. We found a competitive overall package and want to thank my staff for their good job including Michelin because the race tyres we tested were all of a good grip level: even my laps on qualifiers were consistently fast and the second row start will help me to stay with the firsts. Tomorrow’s race will be very close but I am looking forward to ending this week end in the most positive fashion”.


Qualifying Practice:

1 Stoner (1’35.520)
2 Pedrosa (1’35.552)
3 Rossi (1’35.659)
4 Hayden (1’35.975)
5 De Puniet (1’35.985)
6 Edwards (1’36.278)
7 Lorenzo (1’36.532)
8 Vermeulen (1’36.768)
9 Nakano (1’36.804)
10 Guintoli (1’36.823)
11 Dovizioso (1’36.899)
12 De Angelis (1’36.984)
13 Toseland (1’36.978)
14 Elias (1’37.287)
15 Hopkins (1’37.643)
16 West (1’37.793)
17 Melandri (1’38.726)

OUT: Capirossi