De Puniet apologises for poor result

The LCR Honda rider had very high expectations for Le Mans following his impressive fourth position at Jerez a fortnight ago and a very strong run in Friday practice, where he ended up third after fighting for the top spot.

But his weekend started to go downhill when a crash early in qualifying left him 10th on the grid, and he fared even worse in today's damp race.

"I am very disappointed for the team and for the fans because I made a very bad race today," said de Puniet.

"At the beginning, on rain tyres, I was not comfortable with the front end. Then I switched on the bike set up with slick tyres but I made a mistake on Turn 4 losing some seconds. After that I struggled I lot and could not race as I expected."

De Puniet said the only consolation was that he had not lost too much ground in the championship, and he vowed to put his Le Mans disappointment behind him with a better performance in the Italian Grand Prix in two weeks' time.

"We started the weekend with the right package and I aimed to get a better result. However I got two points and I am 10th in the standings. Now I have to forget this bad weekend and must focus for the Mugello race," he concluded.