2009 MotoGP rookie and former Ducati test rider Niccolo Canepa has provided an insight into riding the Desmosedici grand prix machine, plus a glimpse of life inside the Ducati factory and the challenges he faces in balancing university with MotoGP.
MotoGP world champion Casey Stoner took an early version of next year's Ducati Desmosedici GP9 - which features a carbon fibre frame - to the top of the Monday test times at Catalunya.
Ducati's MotoGP machine may have made an impressive debut in 2003, but that has not prevented the team's engineers from making changes to its specification over the winter.
Right out of the box, Ducati's Desmosedici proved to be a competitive bike, even demonstrating areas of excellence against rivals with more experience, but the coming season promises even more from the Italian marque.
Ducati has revealed that Loris Capirossi will take on an adversary even more fearsome than a Honda RC211V next Sunday, when the Italian will take part in a drag race... against an F104 starfigher!