Stoner starting from a stronger base in 2010

Australian rider Casey Stoner is "really satisfied" with the Ducati Desmosedici GP10 after the latest official pre-season test at Sepang.

Stoner was the second fastest rider at Sepang behind world champion Valentino Rossi, and the Australian's feedback on the Desmosedici GP10 of the Ducati Marlboro team was extremely positive.

Stoner's lap of 2:00.512 from 33 laps on Friday was an improvement on his Thursday time, and left him feeling positive ahead of the final pre-season test in Qatar from March 18-19.

"When we first went out this morning the track conditions were a huge improvement on yesterday thanks to the slightly cooler temperatures, which meant the track was less slippery," he said.

"That allowed us to get the best out of the bike and we were able to set some fast times. We started out with the same setting we finished with yesterday, which I already liked, and we changed just a couple of things and were able to immediately set a strong pace.

"It is just a shame that the red flag came out right after we put the new medium tyre on. I missed out on a few laps because of that but it wasn't a big deal."

Stoner added: "We are really satisfied with the package we have now and the progress we have made so far. If you ask me I'd say we are starting off from a stronger base than last year so now we'll just have to wait and see if we can get straight on the pace in Qatar."

The final day of the Sepang test saw Rossi not only better than his pole position time from the 2009 GP, but also extremely happy with the "great shape" of the M1 prototype. He recorded a best lap of 2:00.271. "I'm really happy to have beaten my pole record, it's a good feeling to be this fast in testing," said Rossi. "I did this with an old tyre, but we also got the chance to try a very good new tyre from Bridgestone today, which I hope we will use from the first race.

"Our bike is in great shape. We need to do a bit more work on the electronics, but in general everything is better, especially the rear grip and the engine. Yamaha has been very clever in developing this new bike while keeping the best parts of the old one."

Click on the following link for all the testing times from Sepang.