Ducati not expecting to change its MotoGP bike for Jorge Lorenzo

While Ducati's older challengers attracted a reputation for being tough to ride, it has made major progress in recent years, under the leadership of Gigi Dall'Igna, who joined the team in late 2013.

Lorenzo says he has not considered what to expect from the bike but Dall'Igna believes he will like what he finds when he tests it for the first time.

"He has some special characteristics and I know very well these characteristics because I worked with him for a long time," Dall'Igna, who worked with Lorenzo in 125cc and 250cc, said.

"I think that the bike at the moment can give what Jorge needs to be fast on the racetrack.

"For sure we will have to adapt a little bit the bike for his riding style, but I am also sure that he can ride the bike in a proper way, because he's a real genius.

"At the moment I think that our bike is quite good for him.

"We have in mind some evolution to do during this season, and to do for the next year.

"As soon as possible - after the Valencia race - we will provide to him the 2017 bike that we are now working on in Ducati.

"I'm quite convinced that we don't have to introduce too many evolutions just for Jorge."

It is expected that Lorenzo will look to bring some of his current Yamaha crew with him to Ducati, as has been the norm with major rider moves, to help streamline the adjustment.

However Ducati's sporting director Paolo Ciabatti said that discussions with Lorenzo on the topic were yet to take place.

"Normally a rider of a level like Jorge would like to have some of his people with him when he moves to a different team," he said.

"It's still open; we want to make him feel comfortable when he comes to Ducati, but on the other side we think we have very good people in our team now, and they know very well the working method of Ducati, they know very well our bike.

"So I think it's important to keep as much as possible people who have experience with the bike, to help Jorge because it's a different bike from the one he's been working on for so many years.

"Still, it's something we will discuss in the future, and not a topic we need to sort out now."