Career
He currently is a test rider for KTM, focusing on their 2017 MotoGP project He competed in the Superbike World Championship in 2015, with little success. In 2001 he moved up to the 250cc World Championship.
He earned two podium finishes in 2002 to earn a factory Aprilia ride for 2003.
2006 was his first season in MotoGP, for the Kawasaki factory team, where he remained for 2007. He took his first front-row start at the 2007 Catalan Grand Prix, and finished a career-best fifth.
Up until Donington, he started all but one other race on the third row. He started fourth and finished second at Motegi in the wet.
LCR Honda announced on August 24, 2007 that de Puniet would ride for them in 2008 and 2009.
He suffered a fractured ankle in a midseason testing crash in 2009. He ultimately remained with LCR for 2010, despite being linked to the French Technical 3 squad. He had been in contention for a Technical 3 ride for 2011, but team boss Herve Poncharal denied this link.
He enjoyed a strong run of form midseason in 2010, including consecutive front row starts at Silverstone and Assen.
He was running fifth in the championship before breaking his leg in a crash at the Sachsenring. He missed the race at Laguna Seca before returning at Brno, where he finished tenth.
In spite of the promise he showed on the Honda before his injury, De Puniet raced for Pramac Racing in 2011. After a disappointing year on the satellite Ducati De Puniet joined the Power Electronics Aspar team for 2012, a "Claiming Rules Team" running a modified Aprilia RSV4 known as the ART. Foreign 2014, De Puniet was not racing, instead concentrating on development and testing on the Suzuki 2015 MotoGP machine.
He hoped to receive a wild card ride during 2014, and did so at the final race in Valencia, retiring from the race.