Source: Supplied.

Australian two-time MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner showed an impressive run of speed on debut testing with Ducati at Sepang, Malaysia, fastest of the Desmosedicis on day three.

In his first appearance with Ducati since 2010 and on board last year’s GP15, Stoner posted 2m01.070s on Wednesday in 30 laps, placing him fifth for the day and ninth on combined times.

“All in all it’s been a very good few days for us and I’m surprised myself that I was able to do three days of testing,” Stoner said. “Physically I feel great at the moment, but I’m sure I won’t tomorrow! It’s been a really positive test, not only because we worked well with the bike, but also because I was able to get back up to speed right away.

“Today wasn’t too bad, even though we didn’t get to do a lot of laps. Two exits this morning comparing two different geometry settings, but then the rain came so we weren’t able to complete the tests.

“After the rain we finally got a bit of dry track time but struggled a bit with rear grip and spent too much time trying to find a balance again to move on. But as I said I’m really happy with the way things have gone, and working with Gigi [Dall’Igna] and the team has been really fantastic!”

Stoner isn’t scheduled to appear at Phillip Island’s upcoming MotoGP test starting 17 February, despite ongoing speculation he could contest the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix later in the year.