Although the Spaniard was 1.2secs behind factory Ducati rider and world champion Casey Stoner, he set a best time 0.517secs quicker on the Desmosedici than he'd been on the Honda Gresini RC212V during Sunday's season-ending race.

"I'm happy because I improved my times from yesterday and I felt comfortable on the bike," said Toni, who dropped his lap time by 0.2secs. "In addition, I went faster then I did on [on the Honda] and was able to lap very consistently. Still, we have a lot of work to do, but I want to do it, and the team, also. Now, I'm thinking about the winter tests in January and the first race in Qatar. This has been a better start than I had hoped."

2007 class rookie Sylvain Guintoli was just a quarter of a second behind the former MotoGP race winner and also beat his best time from the Valencian Grand Prix.

"Today I have worked calmly and taken advantage of all the laps to improve and adapt to everything. I lowered my times from yesterday, and I also went faster than I did on the race on Sunday, so for this I'm very happy," said the former Yamaha Tech 3 rider. "I like the bike and the team very much and I can't wait for the winter tests to continue working and get ready to do well in the first race in Qatar."

The Pramac d'Antin Team will return to the track in January, when it will debut its 2008 race bikes.