Phillip Island, 16 October: Sunny spring weather was the main factor in today’s Australian Grand Prix opening day at Phillip Island race track which hosts the third last round of the championship, with LCR Honda MotoGP rider Randy de Puniet finishing 12th overall. The Frenchman posted his fastest lap of 1’32.808 in today’s first free session which was held in the dry with track temperature of 17°C.

Typical rain-shower fell in the last two days at the 4.448 Km racetrack but the sunshine has replaced the rain clouds this morning giving the Team a chance to test dry setting and slick tyres. The seaside track is a huge favourite amongst riders including De Puniet which went around the ocean track 26 times but struggled a lot with some rear grip issues. Rossi topped the timesheets with a 1’31.032 best lap time.

De Puniet – 12th – 1’32.808

De Puniet – 12th: “I have been struggling with rear grip since the beginning of the practice. We tried to adjust the bike setting but at the end I could not ride as I would like. Probably the rear tyre was too hard for these conditions. Bridgestone brought some new hard rubber for safety reason but at present I do not feel very comfortable. We must work on that trying to improve the grip level through the chassis set up and suspension regulations”.