Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso tried a new frame and some radical setup changes over the course of MotoGP testing at Sepang in order to try and reduce the understeer which is now plaguing him as it did his famous predecessor.

The Italian, along with team-mate Nicky Hayden, used the new frame which test rider Michele Pirro has been evaluating, electronics and an adjusted centre of gravity to try and make the GP13 turn, managing to match Valentino Rossi's laptimes from last year on a less-grippy surface.

“I’m quite happy with the work we’ve done here. Yesterday we did some rather radical changes to the setup and were able to understand something about the way for the future, while also improving my feeling," said Dovizioso.

"I’m now able to brake harder and enter corners faster, although we’re still not quick enough in the middle of the corner. My lap time is isn’t bad for the conditions we had today. Pirro’s ‘laboratory’ bike had some positive points, but I couldn’t improve my lap time with it because my positioning and the power delivery were different than on my bike.

"Anyway, we needed to understand better whether that bike is good or not, and it was positive, as it helps me with the final part of braking and the first part of corner entry. I’m very happy with how we worked at this test, with how much we were able to improve from the last test, and with how much feedback we were able to give the engineers.

"It will be interesting to go to Jerez for the last test and to Qatar for the first race because they’re all three completely different tracks, so we’ll be able understand more.”