Monster Yamaha's Cal Crutchlow completed his third day of MotoGP testing at Sepang with a definite plan for where to improve the satellite YZR-M1 and is reporting the same corner exit problems as both the Factory Yamaha riders but his final laps on the bike were hampered by rain.

Crutchlow started the test well, posting the third-fastest time on day one and only slipping to fifth and then seventh overall with a 2'01.108s lap compared with Casey Stoner's fastest of 1'59.607. He suffered a minor tumble at turn 13 early on today but was un-injured.

“I am really pleased with the way things have gone at this test and it has been a really good confidence boost to start 2012. Sepang is a track I just don't get on with or enjoy riding at but I was third on the first day and fifth on the second day. I'm sure I could have been fifth on the final day too but a couple of things didn't go my way. I had a crash early on at Turn 13 when I basically ran wide and got on the dirty part of the track. It was my fault and that cost me a fair bit of track time and when I was confident I could go a lot quicker at the end it started raining," said Crutchlow.

"The pleasing aspect is my times have been consistent and that bodes well for the future. I'm not as fast as Stoner, Spies, Pedrosa or Lorenzo but for consistency I'm the best of the rest. The new 1000cc YZR-M1 has kept the strong points of the 800 with good corner entry and turning. But we do need to look at improving the bike on corner exit. Being in the top five on the first two days and not far away on the final day is a great start but I'm not going to get carried away. This is only the first test and while testing is really important, it is what happens in Qatar on April 8 that is really important.”