New Ducati Marlboro rider Casey Stoner signalled his potential for the 2007 season by outpacing triple 2006 race winner Loris Capirossi by the end of his first test on a Desmosedici and Bridgestone tyres.

Stoner, who took a pole position and podium with Honda LCR during his debut MotoGP season, was just 0.3secs slower than Capirossi after his first day on an 800, then found a further 0.47secs on the final day of testing - placing him third overall, just 0.28secs behind fastest man Dani Pedrosa and a fraction ahead of Capirossi.

"I am really satisfied with the way these first two days on the Ducati GP7 have gone," smiled Casey. "Everything went well and I made good progress. I'm getting used to the new 'package' of bike and tyres and first impressions are positive. The more I spend on the bike the more I get used to it and things become easier and more natural. The 800 seems similar to the 250s in riding style: it allows quicker cornering and even under braking you can push harder than on the 990. This Ducati has got so much power and I can't wait to get back on the track at Jerez for the last tests of the year!"

Capirossi, second behind stand-in team-mate Troy Bayliss in the season ending Valencian Grand Prix, focussed on engine and chassis work on day two.

"These have been two important days of testing because we made a lot of radical changes to the set-up, which you can't do during a race weekend," stated the Italian. "In this development phase it is vitally important to experiment with several different solutions so that you don't arrive at race weekends unprepared. I am quite satisfied and happy that we can now only concentrate on the 800 that we will use next year without having to ride the 990, which we had to do before this test."

Stoner and Capirossi will next be in action on November 28-30 at Jerez, meaning they won't be joining their Japanese rivals at Sepang on November 15.