These are press releases issued the various MotoGP teams today at Le Mans. Which is in France.

FRENCH GRAND PRIX - Le Mans
1st day of Practice - Friday May 16- 2008


Fast start for Tech 3 Yamaha on home soil in Le Mans

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Randy de Puniet is one of seven Michelin riders contesting this year's MotoGP World Championship and this weekend will see the Frenchman take part in the French Grand Prix - round five of the 2008 series - with his LCR-run Honda RC 212 V. "I have often gone well at Le Mans," he says. "I finished on the podium several times when I was racing 250s bikes, and last year I even led briefly before falling foul of the rain. Competing on home tarmac is always something of a motivation booster and I hope I go well this weekend." Prior to his home race, Randy de Puniet took time to travel to Clermont-Ferrand as Michelin's guest to visit the factory where the tyres he uses at each Grand Prix are made. "It was the first time I'd ever been to see a factory of any sort," he observes. "I saw a front MotoGP tyre being made and I also contributed to the production of a car tyre. It was a very interesting experience. I have to say that I wasn't expecting what I saw, and the visit has given me a better understanding of what goes into tyre construction. And to think that we sometimes cover just two laps with one set of tyres during practice..."

This season sees Randy de Puniet racing on Michelin tyres for the first time since his Grand Prix debut. "I used Michelins in the French 125cc Championship in 1997 and 1998," he recalls. "That seems such a long time ago!" Although certain riders have trouble adapting when they switch from one brand of tyres to another, it wasn't a problem for Randy, as he explained to the staff he met during his tour of the Michelin factory: "It didn't worry me and I immediately felt confident with my new tyres. I had to change my style a little, but it's difficult to say how much exactly because I changed bikes, too. In any case, I have to say that I'm delighted to be racing with Michelin. I am benefiting from a level of support I have never had before from a tyre firm. At circuits, I really feel there's a bunch of people behind me trying to provide me with tailor-made tyres." Of this year's seven Michelin MotoGP riders, Randy de Puniet is the only Frenchman, but that doesn't mean he gets any special favours, although speaking the language clearly makes life easier for the Honda LCR rider. "It's always preferable to be able to understand each other perfectly when talking about highly technical matters," believes Randy. "My comments are obviously more precise than they would be if I had to converse with my tyre technician in English." Michelin's motorcycle racing boss Jean-Philippe Weber particularly appreciates Randy's input when it comes to developing new products. "Randy is a hard worker," he says. "He just goes out and puts in the laps whenever we ask him, and he never shirks from trying new solutions. I thought there would be a bigger difference between his perception of Michelin tyres and the products he used previously, but that turned out not to be the case and he adapted very quickly, as his excellent lap times during winter testing demonstrate. We are fortunate this year to have seven riders who are very similar in terms of their sensitivity. Their tyre choices tend to be remarkably close and that helps us work well."

During his visit to Michelin's Cataroux plant where MotoGP tyres are produced, Randy de Puniet got a chance to see for himself the passion that drives all those who contribute to the success and performance of the firm's racing products. "I signed countless autographs and the staff had lots of questions for me," relates the Honda LCR rider. "I talked about my life as a bike racer, the way I work with Michelin's technicians and also my ambitions for the future. I was genuinely surprised by their enthusiasm. My visit to the factory also allowed me to see how difficult it is to achieve the level of precision required to produce a racing tyre, and I have total respect for the jobs they all do. Our success at the racetrack begins here, and I am very proud to represent the colours of Michelin in the MotoGP World Championship." Before taking his leave, Randy promised all those members of the staff who turned out to greet him that he would do his best to put in a top performance at the French Grand Prix...

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LORENZO BACK ON BOARD AND BATTLING ON DESPITE INJURIES

Following on from his eventful weekend in China two weeks ago, Fiat Yamaha Team rider Jorge Lorenzo was back on his M1 at Le Mans today, battling on despite the pain of two fractured ankles. The injuries he sustained in China have not yet had time to fully recover but the 21-year-old is able to ride and finished the day an impressive fourth in the overall standings, despite a small crash this afternoon.

It was straight down to business from the off this morning for the Mallorcan and he finished the first session second in the standings, despite this being the first time he has ridden a MotoGP bike at this track. This afternoon he continued to work on refining his settings and tyre choices and the Michelin rider was able to improve on his time from the morning by 0.3 seconds, despite losing grip and sliding out at turn two near the end of the session. Luckily however he escaped any further injury and the damage to his bike was also minimal. Lorenzo's team-mate Valentino Rossi was sixth fastest this afternoon, whilst the time sheets were topped by Dani Pedrosa.

Team Manager

"Unfortunately this afternoon Jorge crashed in turn two, when he was at the maximum lean angle and he lost the front and the rear. After China it was a fright for everyone but he got up quickly and luckily he is okay, as is the bike! Aside from this, his performance today has been very good considering his physical condition and it seems he's able to ride okay. We need to work on the grip under acceleration because at the moment the bike is a bit unstable, and we also need to improve the contact in the front because we're wheelying a bit too much. It's been a good start though and tomorrow we will keep going like this and try to improve even more."

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Valentino Rossi rode his Fiat Yamaha Team M1 to sixth place on the opening day of the Grand Prix of France in Le Mans today. Although some bad weather is expected over the weekend, today was mostly dry save a few spots of rain which fell over the 4.180km Bugatti Circuit during the afternoon session.

Rossi was quick during the morning practice, setting the third fastest time, but this afternoon work with different tyres and settings were not as effective as hoped and he failed to improve on his time from this morning. It was nonetheless a fruitful day for Rossi and his team as they were able to gather valuable data for Bridgestone at what is another new circuit for this year's package of bike and tyres. Despite the mixed weather forecasts for tomorrow, the 29-year-old is hopeful of two more dry sessions as he looks to refine the setting of his YZR-M1 in race trim before attempting to become the first rider to win two races this season on Sunday.

Rossi's team-mate Jorge Lorenzo meanwhile battled through the pain of the two fractured ankles he sustained in China and the inconvenience of a small crash this afternoon to end the day fourth fastest in the combined standings.

Position: 6th Time: 1'34.886 Laps: 49

"This morning we started quite well, I had a good rhythm and I was able to be third fastest with a good time. This afternoon to begin with it was also okay but then we tried some different things and it wasn't so good; we tried a tyre I didn't like so much and also a setting that didn't feel so good so overall the result was not great! We weren't able to improve our time from the morning but we actually learned quite a lot, which I hope will help us, so now we just need to work hard to decide what is the best way for tomorrow. I am confident we can improve. The weather isn't so good, with some spots of rain, but actually we expected worse for Le Mans, so if this is as bad as it gets I will be happy! It may rain properly tomorrow in which case we will have different things to work on; I would prefer it to be dry of course but we will have to wait and see. It wasn't a perfect day but we know why we didn't improve so we're not too worried."

Team Manager

"Today we mostly focused on checking the different tyres that we have available to us here and finding the best one, together with refining our base setting. We've been able to eliminate some options and found some that are better, so now the next step will be to put the best of everything together and try to perfect the package. This morning we were quite fast and then this afternoon things weren't quite so good and we weren't able to improve, but we now have a lot of information available to us so we will study it together with the engineers and with Bridgestone and decide the best path to follow. If tomorrow is wet then we will have to rely on today's information in the event of a dry race, so we would prefer it to be like this again tomorrow."

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Le Mans - France - 16 May 2008

First day at Le Mans for JiR Team Scot as changeable weather closes in

The first day of practice for the French Grand Prix has been used by JiR Team Scot to evaluate new technical parts and materials and make choices for tomorrow's practice and qualifying sessions. The circuit has been lightly modified and in some parts the Tarmac has been renewed. This has not changed the characteristics of the French circuit. Rider and team enjoyed a good morning session, although they didn't make any improvements in time in the afternoon but instead worked on settings for the new equipment. Tomorrow will be crucial, but the weather is forecast to be very poor.

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Friday May 16 2008
French GP - Free Practice

STONER SECOND FASTEST AT LE MANS, MELANDRI MAKES LATE PROGRESS

Casey Stoner ended the first day of free practice for the Grand Prix de France as the second fastest rider around the Le Mans circuit on a cool (19° C) but, most importantly, dry start to the weekend.

The World Champion ended the day satisfied with the job done by his crew as he made gradual progress with the setting of his Ducati, after finding a fast and consistent pace on race tyres.

Marco Melandri has yet to find the perfect set-up for this track despite finding some impressive pace through the first two splits. The Italian now hopes to improve around the second half of the circuit, particularly under braking, and find an optimum set-up for the race - as he did in China two weeks ago.

CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 2nd fastest: 1'34.276

"We're struggling a little bit in T4, as we did last year. We need a little more acceleration coming onto the straights and it's a bit difficult for us in those tight but long corners. Tomorrow we'll make some changes to try and improve on that but basically the idea is to compensate for it by making our strong points even stronger. In any case today has been a good step for us because we haven't been really competitive in the last three races and it's good to start a Grand Prix in the right way again. This morning was going quite well but the setting wasn't quite right to be able to show what we could really do and then this afternoon we had a small problem with the engine on one of the bikes. The setting on the second bike wasn't perfect but the team made a small change that allowed me to go seven tenths quicker, so I was delighted with that. The weather forecast is a little all over the show, as it usually is here, and you never quite know what you're going to get so it's good to get two dry sessions under our belt. I'm happy with what we've got so far and ready for whatever the clouds throw at us tomorrow."

MARCO MELANDRI - (Ducati Marlboro Team) 14th fastest: 1'35.678

"I was hoping to start this weekend a little better but even though engine performance isn't bad we still haven't found the right way forward with the set-up of the cycle part. At the moment I can't brake as hard as I would like. When I'm braking with the bike upright it's okay but when it's leaned over the problems start. With a lot of braking areas in the turns at this track it means I'm losing a couple of vital tenths. We've done some different tyre tests and even though we've found something I like we're still not getting enough grip. We'll obviously try to improve that tomorrow because we want to at least be at the same level we reached two weeks ago in China."

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KAWASAKI DUO SEE IMPROVEMENTS AT LE MANS

Kawasaki's John Hopkins and Anthony West finished today's opening practice sessions ahead of Sunday's French Grand Prix in ninth and 16th positions respectively, after focussing on refining machine set-up during the two, one-hour track sessions.

Hopkins spent most of the two practice sessions perfecting the set-up of his Ninja ZX-RR to suit the stop-start, hard braking nature of the 4.18km Bugatti circuit. The Anglo-American ran through different tyre options with Bridgestone, lapping quickly and consistently, despite some difficulties with feeling in the front end of his machine.

Hopkins remains confident ahead of tomorrow, where he is sure that with some further refinements in the set-up of his Kawasaki, he can improve his lap time significantly. The 24-year-old Kawasaki pilot ended the day with a best time of 1'35.133, less than a second off fastest man, Dani Pedrosa.

Teammate West ended the practice sessions in more confident mood compared to previous rounds. The Australian, who makes his Le Mans debut on a MotoGP machine this weekend, feels more comfortable on his Ninja ZX-RR, after Kawasaki's engineers made minor changes to the power delivery of their 800cc, inline four-cylinder engine.

While he was unhappy with his finishing position today, West admitted he was able to lap more consistently and he remains confident that, tomorrow, he can improve on his final lap time of 1'35.877. The 26-year-old is aware of the particular areas of the track where traction issues are slowing him down, and the Kawasaki pilot is hoping that with the data collected today the team can continue making improvements during tomorrow's qualifying session.

John Hopkins

"Le Mans is a track I quite enjoy and although the position isn't where we want to be, I'm feeling confident. We've used the practice sessions today to find a tyre combination that works well in both the front and rear. At the moment we're struggling a little bit with feeling in the front-end, which is costing us time. It's nothing particularly major as we can lap quickly and consistently, but I feel that an improvement in this will reduce our lap time considerably. We have a few ideas on how to achieve this and tomorrow we'll be aiming for a good qualifying position."

Anthony West
#13: 16th ? 1'35.877

"I'm feeling a little bit more confident here today than I have in previous rounds. The circuit seems to suit our bike, as there are not so many turns here where the bike is leaned over for long periods of time, and this is where we've experienced problems in the past. We've made some alterations to my Ninja ZX-RR and I feel a lot more comfortable as I can use the bike's strength on corner entry to put together reasonable lap times. The position isn't anywhere near where we want to be, but I can lap consistently and this is a good sign as we were unable to do this before. There are two longer corners in the track where we need to improve traction, but we have some direction now and I hope we can continue with this tomorrow."

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