Returning to Europe after the visit to China, the MotoGP teams and riders gathered at the famous Le Mans circuit in the Sarthe region of France for the first day of practices at the 4.185 km track with a temperature of 19°C.

After the party in Paris on Wednesday night, the LCR Honda MotoGP rider Randy De Puniet went back on track today with a special livery of his Michelin-shod Honda RC212V decorated with the blue, white and red national flag as well as the helmet and the leather. The 27-year French rider concentrated with his crew to find a correct package for the “stop-and-go” track getting the 8th position with a 1'35.073 best lap time.

Todays' frontrunner Pedrosa set a quickest lap time of 1'34.227.

De Puniet – 8th: “I am quite satisfied about this first day of practices. We made a good work between the two sessions especially with tyres and suspension. This morning I was not comfortable with the rear so we changed the chassis geometry and the suspension regulations so the things went better in the afternoon. We still have some adjustments to do to reduce the gap especially on the braking stability but I feel confident for tomorrow. We deserved the 8th place and I hope to be there in tomorrow's qualifying session even though we are a bit worried about the weather forecast”.

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