Stoner was beaming after setting the pace on day two at Valencia on debut with Honda.

Australian Casey Stoner made a stunning debut as a factory Honda rider at this week’s Valencia tests, setting the fastest time on day two and firing the first warning shot that he’ll be a title contender in 2011.

The 25-year-old was thrilled with the performance, made on an Australian-themed RC212V since his existing Ducati contract won’t allow him to wear Repsol colours just yet, and looks forward to his next test in February.

“There’s not much I’m not happy with!” Stoner told MotoGP.com. “Of course there is still a long way to go for us with the bike but we’ve come away with a reasonable base setting.

“We still have to get the general feeling of the bike a bit better in the middle of the corner turning, but that’s just a case of getting more time on the bike and a better balance for me as I have a different style to most riders.

“At this moment, with the set-up we currently have, we have been very happy with the feedback the bike’s been giving us and the way everyone’s been working.”

Stoner’s best lap on day two was a 1:32.066, an improvement of over seven-tenths of a second on his previous day’s effort.

Commenting on his switch from Ducati, Stoner said he feels completely at ease on the Honda after just two days.

“It wasn’t the most comfortable move for sure!” he said. “It’s like going from any bike to another, it does feel very strange. But this morning it immediately felt more comfortable having had the first day, so we were able to work in a better way than yesterday. Today we were able to move forward and hopefully in the right direction.”

Speaking of the highlights on debut with the Honda, Stoner outlined a number of key factors that impressed him on the bike.

“How smooth the engine is. Whatever we do with the throttle transfers to the rear and I’m able to exit the corners so smoothly,” the 2007 world champion said.

“Also the chassis is very smooth and we’re able to get on the gas really hard out of corners. Even when it slides it’s very minimal and this is a nice change for me.

“We still have to move some parameters with the electronics that seem to be restricting me a bit, and we have to improve engine braking a bit as we’re struggling slightly with that, but over these two days we were able to improve that a lot so I’m sure over time and with a bit more understanding of the bike we can fix these things,” he concluded.