Casey Stoner won Ducati’s only MotoGP championship in 2007, and news of his return to Ducati for testing had understandably stirred up great speculation that he might once more appear on start grids in red leathers. But after the first day of Sepang testing, he said, “I have no intentions of racing. It was nice to be back on track with them, mainly to get the data, but I think I am still going to enjoy staying on the side of the track watching the racing, rather than being involved.” In a second day of testing, Stoner was 9th fastest, with a 2 min. 1.103 second lap. The surprise of the day was Danilo Petrucci, topping practice with a 2 min. .095 sec. lap. Competitors observed that he had made this lap with the soft tire which Michelin withdrew after one of them came apart at 180-mph on Loris Baz’s Avintia Racing’s GP14 Ducati. Baz received no serious injury. Stoner was vague in a 16-minute press scrum. The problems facing MotoGP teams as the 2016 season looms are the switch from Bridgestone to Michelin spec tires, the mandatory use of a spec ECU and same-for-everybody software, and a switch for the factory teams from 20 liters of fuel to 22 liters per race, and up from five engines per rider to seven. We can understand the desire of the “racing business” to increase competition and cut costs, but rules changes always require rapid adaptation at which the well-funded teams are best. Therefore, each time management jiggers the rules in seeking their goals, the most likely outcome is that the well-funded teams benefit. 
Stoner later said, “I am impressed with the GP15. It was a little strange at first--new bike and new tires all in one go, and my first time back on a bike since Suzuka, but we got used to it quite easily. Every step we make we can feel positives and negatives, and we can see the direction. “Today was the second day on the bike for me and we can see they have a good package, we saw that last season. Every setting we made was some progress, we understood what the bike was doing, I am getting more comfortable with the Michelins, where the limits are and where you can push. “We can improve the exit of turns three and four, when we shift on the transition but it’s not such a big problem if the bike is moving, it means it has grip. We didn’t push too hard today, I don’t even think I ran wide anywhere but I don’t want to make any silly mistakes. I am not looking to put in a soft tire and go for a laptime. This is something you do when you want to crush the opposition, I don’t need to do that at this point.” This makes it clear that Stoner’s role with Ducati is testing and provision of feedback. 
Commenting on Honda’s efforts to move back toward the easier-to-ride engine spec of 2015, Stoner said, “The Honda, they don't seem to be in their normal comfort zone, they're not adapting too well. I don't know if it's the new engine or the new electronics. I think it's both. But for sure they don't seem to be in that zone of comfort. There's still a long way to go, it's just the first test of the season, so there's still plenty of time. I'm sure they will find something.” He summed up by saying, “It's nice to be back on track with them (Ducati team riders) today, mainly to get the data, but I think I'm still going to enjoy standing on the side of the track watching the race rather than being out there.” 
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