Casey Stoner gets first test on 'very different' 2016 MotoGP Ducati

The two-time world champion returned to the Italian manufacturer's ranks as a test rider at the start of this year, and rode its GP15 before and during the Sepang pre-season test in February.

His first taste of the 2016 Desmosedici was due to come before last weekend's season opener, but it was rescheduled due to MotoGP regulations.

Stoner instead rode at the Losail circuit on the Monday and Tuesday after the race, in which Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso finished second.

However, the bulk of the opening day was lost to rain showers, and Stoner completed 65 laps in total.

"It's very, very different," he told MotoGP.com of the 2016 bike.

"You can feel immediately in the chassis stiffness, things are a little bit softer a little bit more progressive, more forgiving.

"It was fantastic that we actually got to run some more laps [on Tuesday], it rained again during the day a few times, but luckily it dried out before my test started and we got some decent laps.

"Conditions aren't ideal, we've dust clouds when it hasn't been raining, so the track's in pretty rough condition.

"But we did have plenty of grip there for us to test what we needed to and we got through a pretty big programme today, so things are very, very positive."

While in Qatar, Stoner ruled out replacing injured Pramac Ducati rider Danilo Petrucci in Argentina, Austin and possibly beyond, a notion the satellite outfit had already classed as "romantic".

Stoner did ride the GP15 specification Ducati - as raced by Pramac - as a reference in Qatar, but the bulk of his programme was on trying development items for the 2016 machine.

"At the moment it's new parts, different things that realistically the Andreas [race riders Dovizioso and Iannone] don't have a chance to test during the weekend," he said.

"They don't have a lot of tests to get up to speed and have all of these other parts done.

"We are sort of getting through those, we had quite a few things that we threw on the bike, big, big changes basically between each exit.

"We're just confirming things that we found from Sepang, of course feeling the difference between the GP15 and the Desmosedici.

"All of these things are still kind of going back and forwards and basically trying to find a direction to go so the Andreas don't have to waste time during a race weekend."

The Australian's next test is yet to be scheduled, and will be shaped by Ducati's development programme.