Lorenzo, who begins his second season with the Italian brand, ended the first official test day of 2018 in third, 0.03s behind teammate Andrea Dovizioso.

The Spaniard said the new bike has improved on turning, which is Ducati's traditional weakness, and that it is quicker than the old bike.

"New bike looks in general faster than the old one so this is positive," said Lorenzo.

"Normally, you need more time to improve the performance of the old one but this time all the riders who tried this bike improved the laptime so this is a very good sign.

"Especially this bike looks much more close to my natural style.

"We can open the throttle quicker, I can enter the corner with more confidence, I can lean a little bit more so I am very happy and satisfied.

"[With] one year more experience, I understand much more of the bike and the bike is more Lorenzo's bike."

Dovizioso pointed out corner entry as the area where the bike improved the most.

"The entry was better, the last part of braking and when I release the brake, it affects a little bit the turn." he said.

"When you have a good base, it is difficult to improve the bike, what you have to do is very difficult so I was a little bit surprised, really happy about that.

"Still we have to work in the details because it was immediately better but there is also a negative point like always, so we have to work and understand exactly what we can do."

Additional reporting by Oriol Puigdemont