Former Pramac Ducati MotoGP rider Randy de Puniet had only an hour's notice to get himself ready to test the Rizla Suzuki GSV-R800 bike at Valencia today and that included peeling old stickers off his leathers!

The Frenchman did 55 laps on Alvaro Bautista's bike and managed to clock the fourth-fastest time of the day. He was only 1.3s slower than quickest man Dani Pedrosa who has 200cc and bike knowledge as an advantage,

“I am very happy with the job I have done today and would like to thank Rizla Suzuki for giving me this opportunity. One hour before I rode the bike I didn’t know I was going to be on it, so I had to modify old leathers to remove the wrong brands," said de Puniet.

"I had a good day and am very happy with the lap-time and position. The staff are very professional and it has been nice to have this day and to work with them. I was very impressed with the bike and I felt comfortable immediately and enjoyed it a lot. I would like to ride it next year, I’m not the boss, but I hope I did a good job for everybody! I think the bike has good potential and also the feeling with everybody in the team was good and this is the most important thing for me – to feel at home.

“I would like to say thank-you to my manager for pushing so hard to get me this opportunity, to Pramac for allowing me to take it and to Sahara san, Paul, Tom and the GSV-R for such a good day!”