De Puniet optimistic after surgery
Randy de Puniet underwent minor surgery on Wednesday, ahead of further tests in January aboard the CRT bike of the Aspar Team.
After two days of tests last week in Valencia, de Puniet took advantage of the current period of inactivity to undergo minor surgery
before testing resumes in January. The operation, to remove the titanium rod plus one screw that were inserted into his left tibia as a
result of an injury sustained last year in Sachsenring, as well as two screws from his left ankle which were inserted after a motocross
crash in 2009, was completed successful.
De Puniet’s immediate plans are to recover 100% physically, which will take a minimum of ten days, before resuming training in
mid-December ahead of further development of the Aprilia-powered Claiming Rule Team machine that the team will contest in the 2012 campaign.
“We had great testing conditions for the two days, we made some progress and I had fun with this bike," said 30-year-old de
Puniet. "It was a good first impression and so the two days were encouraging. I'm happy with my times and my pace, we are still far
from the prototypes, but I think we can be pleased because it was the first time riding the bike, and it’s far from the bike that it will
be in January."
Regarding future work to be carried out based on his first contact with the bike, de Puniet said: "The objective of this test was to
try to decide on a direction to build a chassis and I think the team now has a good idea of how to move forward. We will do more testing at
Jerez in late January, before going to Sepang with a bike that won’t yet be final, as we’ll continue to develop it, but it will be the
basis of what we’ll have next season."
“I'm very happy, this will be a new adventure, a new project, and I will do my best to be as competitive as possible and to be as close
as possible to the prototypes and beat them if I have the opportunity," added the Frenchman. "I worked with Aspar in 2005, my last
GP win was with them and it’s a very competent team. I know they will do everything possible to have the best material and I’m very
optimistic about this new project.”
-MotoGP-