Ducati's Casey Stoner had to park his new toy yesterday and continue to test new parts for the Desmosedici GP8 in order to keep up with Rossi and Yamaha for the rest of the season.

The reigning MotoGP world champion spent most of Monday setting the Catalunya track on fire using the 2009 bike - but then had to leave team-mate Marco Melandri, and test riders Vito Guareschi and Niccola Canepa to continue development.

In spite of less-than-perfect track conditions caused by light but intermittent rain showers, the Australian was able to try some new electronic solutions and set an excellent pace, clocking the fastest time of the day with a 1'42.180 lap on race tyres.

"I'm happy that despite the conditions not being as good as yesterday we have managed to complete the work we had planned with the GP8," said hte Aussie.

"We were able to try a new electronic configuration that noticeably improved my feeling in the corners where we had problems over the weekend. Even though the track wasn't in good shape because of the rain we still set good lap times and I can leave Barcelona feeling satisfied and confident that we're working well for the present and for the future."

Unofficial lap times:
1. Stoner (Ducati) 1'42.180
2. Dovizioso (Honda) 1'42.222
3. Hayden (Honda) 1'42.555
4. Vermeulen (Suzuki) 1'42.590
5. De Puniet (Honda) 1'43.039
6. Canepa (Ducati) 1'43.683
7. Guintoli (Ducati) 1'44.074
8. Elias (Ducati) 1'44.538
9. Aoki (Suzuki) 1'44.665
10. Jacque (Kawasaki) 1'44.938
11. Nigon (Honda) 1'45.181
12. Melandri (Ducati) 1.46.163
13. Guareschi (Ducati) 1.47.022