Kawasaki impress in test

French rider Randy de Puniet continued Kawasaki’s impressive start to the new 800cc MotoGP era in Sepang as he clocked the third best time overall.

The former factory Aprilia 250 rider was third best behind Yamaha duo Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi on race and qualifying tyres, just 0.4s slower than second placed Rossi using soft qualifying rubber, and just 0.5s slower on race tyres with a best of 2.02.52 set on the final day.

Despite Kawasaki starting their 2007 testing schedule nearly two months behind their rivals, the new ZX-RR is already looking much more competitive than the old 990cc machine.

Delighted de Puniet, who completed another exhausting distance run today – his third in three days – said: “The bike has made a lot of progress even though we didn’t really have any new parts for Sepang.

“I am trying to use the bike in race conditions as much as possible to improve my results this year. I was fast in qualifying last year but the race results were not so good.

“We started behind our rivals but it shows that what Kawasaki built started from a good base and we have improved every day.”

Team-mate Oliver Jacque was fourth fastest, 0.9s slower than his compatriot on race tyres, though he was just 0.6s slower on a soft Bridgestone qualifying tyre.