Randy de Puniet has been in great form in the runup to his home race, with his recent fourth place at Jerez an ideal springboard for Le Mans success this weekend. The Frenchman had little time to make an impact on Friday in practice, but felt confident after placing third in an interrupted session.
3rd – Randy de Puniet Speaks…
"The first part of the session was perfect for me," said the LCR Honda rider, just over a tenth of a second slower than Andrea Dovizioso’s top time from FP1. His confidence came more from the comfort given by his RC212V than any chronological comfort.
"The feeling with the bike was nearly the same as Jerez, which was close to ideal for me. The rear tyre for me is perhaps a little too hard on the left side, but we’ve started well."
"For me here the softer tyre is ok. I wanted to try the hard tyre, but it was too dangerous in these conditions, so if the weather clears up then we will try it tomorrow," De Puniet concluded.
Bridgestone have brought new compounds for the Grand Prix de France, with the intention to stay ahead of the changeable weather conditions that traditionally make things difficult over the course of the weekend. De Puniet was only able to try one of the compounds on Friday, but expects to give the remaining one a try on Saturday.
