Playboy party kicks off Mugello weekend for LCR Honda

A big weekend for LCR Honda at the team’s home round began in style on Thursday night. The collaboration between the MotoGP outfit and sponsor Playboy took a further step with the organisation of a party in Florence’s Central Park club, welcoming a huge attendance from the paddock and beyond.

Rider Randy de Puniet and Team Manager Lucio Cecchinello were joined by national stars of screen and print -in addition to the obligatory Playboy bunnies- as the LCR Honda Paddock Girl for the Gran Premio d’Italia Alice was chosen. The eventual winner was local lady Cristina Milan.

“It is another successful event for us in the collaboration with Playboy Italia,” said Cecchinello. “It is our home race, we’re in Italy, so we thought ‘why not put on a party to celebrate the occasion?’

“The relationship between us is a natural one; the combination of bikes and girls! Since the beginning of the year we have been working with them, and we are happy to work with such a powerful brand and help promote them in a special way. We hope to have a good performance this weekend with Randy and –why not?- get our best result of the year so far.”

Whilst the party continued through the night, one of the early departees was De Puniet. He needed to get some shut-eye before the opening Free Practice session at the Mugello circuit, which takes place on Friday afternoon.

“It’s a really good event, with lots of people here. Obviously I have a big day tomorrow so I can’t stay for long, but I hope that the people here have fun for me!” said the Frenchman. “I’m really looking forward to getting back on track after Le Mans, and Mugello is one of my favourite circuits. The best way that I can promote the team and the sponsors such as Playboy will be to have a good race, and I’m aiming for another top ten this weekend.”