de Puniet: The Honda is easier.

Carlos Checa may have called it is his 'most difficult' bike, but new LCR rider Randy de Puniet seems to have adapted extremely well to the Michelin-equipped satellite Honda, after two years on a Bridgestone-shod factory Kawasaki.

The Frenchman, who scored his debut MotoGP podium this season at Motegi, was a head-turning third during his Honda debut at the Valencia test, then fastest of all on day one next time out at Sepang.

Randy backed that up with third position on day two in Malaysia, when he also began riding with the team's new Ohlins suspension for the first time, but concluded the test just ninth after injuring his thumb in a final day fall.

"The crash was strange, I had the same braking and speed as the lap before, when I lost the front-end," he recalled.

The fall occurred through a double right-hand corner at the back of the circuit when de Puniet lost the front end. The data recorder showed de Puniet was carrying the same speed as the previous lap and the team believes the accident was due to the combination of a well used front tyre and a new grippy rear that placed too much stress on the front of the bike.

de Puniet returned to the track after treatment and continued working with Ohlins and tyre testing for Michelin. He failed to better his day two time, but was nonetheless very pleased with his first five days as an RC212V rider.

"I'm very happy and the main thing is that over many laps the Honda is physically easier and less tiring to ride than my previous bike," said Randy. "Today I continued with the Ohlins suspension, working to find the optimum set-up, especially at the rear where still I lack some connection and good feeling when I open the throttle.

"After just five days with Honda LCR and Michelin I'm happy with move to the LCR team and know we can be faster when we get the 2008 model Honda RC212V," he declared.