Casey Stoner with Repsol

Valentino Rossi makes his first outing with Ducati

 After a lengthy wait on Tuesday morning due to a wet track Valentino Rossi finally gave the masses of awaiting media at Valencia the moment they, and MotoGP fans, had been eagerly anticipating.
Just after 12.20pm local time the 31 year-old took to the Ricardo Tormo track on board the Ducati Desmosedici, with a new fairing – completely black – and donned in plain black leathers, with his trademark 46 emblazoned in luminous yellow on his back.
The main focus of the two-day Test for the Ducati Team is the decision on whether to go with the screamer or big bang engine on the GP11, as discussed by Filippo Preziosi in this interview.
Ducati Test rider Franco Battaini first warmed both versions of the bike up prior to Rossi’s exit from Pit Lane, after which the rider completed a first run of no more than eight laps to gain an initial feeling with the bike. Rossi then re-emerged just before 1.10pm as he began a second stint.
The opening day of the Test is scheduled to finish at 5pm local time today, with highlights to follow on motogp.com!

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Lorenzo collects BMW M Award in Valencia

In a season already marked down as a huge success for MotoGP World Champion Jorge Lorenzo, the Spaniard’s seven poles and 17 front-row grid starts contributed to his 380 points which made him the best qualifier for 2010.

In Valencia the BMW M Award winner was presented with his reward, a brand new BMW M3 Coupé, following his final qualification of the season – second on the grid for Sunday’s season finale the GP Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana.

"It's great to win this amazing car. It looks so good I can't wait to drive it back home, but I'm not a crazy guy on the open road. I leave my maximum speed to the race track." said Lorenzo upon receiving the car.

motogp.com will bring you exclusive live coverage of Valentino Rossi's debut on the Ducati Desmosedici on Tuesday.

Just 36 hours after the end of the 2010 MotoGP World Championship ends riders and teams will be back in action at the Circuit de la Comunitat Valenciana for the first official off-season test, which will also be their final outing of the year.

This two-day test, held on Tuesday and Wednesday, will give MotoGP fans a chance to get a first glimpse of the 2011 MotoGP grid, with the respective debuts of Casey Stoner with Honda, Cal Crutchlow with Yamaha and Toni Elías with LCR Honda and also Valentino Rossi making an historic switch to Ducati after racing under Yamaha colours for the past seven years.

Valencia