LIGHTS ON AT LOSAIL RACETRACK WITH DE PUNIET 5th FASTEST
Doha, 18th March: Under the state-of-the-art lighting system at the desert circuit of Losail, the premier class Teams and riders completed their first day of testing with Rossi on the top of the timesheets. The two-night test in Qatar is the last chance for the MotoGP riders and teams to fine tune their 2010 bikes before returning to the floodlit track three weeks later for the season’s “kick off” on the 11th of April. The premier class riders have been putting their new bikes through their paces since 6.00 pm local time continuing their set up process at the 5.380 km race track till midnight.
Today the LCR Honda MotoGP team has displayed the 2010 livery branded with the GIVI logo (LCR Team historical supporter which will be one of the great 2010 Event Title Sponsors) and the Official Team launching will be right prior to the first race!
The LCR Honda MotoGP racer Randy de Puniet produced a best lap time of 1’56.588 on lap 32 of 54 carrying out furtherdevelopment at the desert circuit where the air temperature reached the 24 degrees (28 on the asphalt) but dropped at the end of the night testing. Despite some stomach pain, the Frenchman has completed his “TO DO” list increasing his confidence aboard the Honda RC212V no. 14 and remains the fastest Honda of the day.
De Puniet – 5th: “Well.. apart from the stomach pain I am very satisfied. When I arrived here two days ago I was ok but this morning I felt the first cramps and it has not been easy to do my job in these conditions. Anyway when we left Sepang some weeks ago I knew that we have found a good base and today my positive feeling has been confirmed. I lapped consistently fast both on hard and soft tyres and I think we can get a further improvement on soft ones. We will see tomorrow…”