Randy de Puniet admits Bridgestone troubles

French rider Randy de Puniet is hoping he can find a direction with Bridgestone’s 2009 tyres after he struggled badly during the opening test in Malaysia last week.

The LCR Honda rider could only post the 14th quickest time in Sepang as he was languishing surprisingly over two seconds off the fastest pace of 2007 world champion Casey Stoner.

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What made de Puniet’s woes even more hard to fathom is the fact that he has previous Bridgestone experience of his time with Kawasaki’s factory team.

The biggest issue for de Puniet was a total lack of confidence in Bridgestone’s front tyre and he told MCN: “I expected much better. I am not confident with the front of the bike.

“It is not easy for me to turn or finish the corner. When I rode for Bridgestone in 2007 I used a smaller profile front tyre and now we use the bigger one. When I used the big one two years ago I had problems and now I’ve got the same again.

“With this tyre the bike feels heavier to steer and it is harder to finish the corner. I can’t hold the line and this is the big problem.”