Jorge Lorenzo starts work with Ducati at Valencia MotoGP testing

Three-time MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo has turned his first laps with Ducati in post-season testing at Valencia.

Less than 36 hours after winning on his Yamaha farewell on Sunday, Lorenzo was the first rider out when pit exit opened at 10am on Tuesday.

The Spaniard conferred with Ducati's test rider Casey Stoner after that initial five-lap run, and took his total to 26 laps after two-and-a-half hours.

Ducati has its 2017 bike at Valencia, but Lorenzo is set to work with the '16 model for most of, if not all, of Tuesday.

Like many manufacturers, Ducati is running the now-banned winglets, to provide an accurate benchmark with data from the race weekend.

At 12:30pm, Lorenzo was ninth fastest with a best time of 1m32.488s, 1.538 seconds off the early pace set by his former Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi.

He was also fastest through the speed trap, at 322.4km/h, 3.6km/h faster than Avintia Ducati's Hector Barbera.

Maverick Vinales was second at the time on his first run with Yamaha (pictured below), one spot ahead of new Suzuki recruit Andrea Iannone.

New KTM pair Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith were 14th and 23rd, while Tech3 Yamaha's Jonas Folger was the best of the rookies in 17th.

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MotoGP: Jorge Lorenzo stands firm on his opinion of Valentino Rossi’s pass at Misano

WO weeks ago, Jorge Lorenzo got into a tense dispute with Valentino Rossi over the Spaniard’s opinion that Rossi’s pass at Misano was “too aggressive” and that other riders in MotoGP race cleaner.

Well, not much has changed.

At this week’s riders press conference ahead of the Grand Prix of Aragon, Lorenzo was asked if he had changed his mind.

“No, actually I think stronger,” Lorenzo said.

Rossi snatched the lead from Lorenzo on the second lap of the San Marino GP with a block pass at a tight hairpin, arrowing his bike to the apex of the corner.

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When he turned into the corner Lorenzo spotted the No. 46 Yamaha on the piece of tarmac he wanted at the last moment, picking his bike up in avoidance.

Lorenzo spoke out after the race — eliciting a chortle from Rossi that triggered a spat that went on for a minute or so — but he had yet to see video of the exchange.

Now he has had a chance to rewatch the pass it has only reinforced his opinion.

“I keep stronger my opinion,” he said.

“Because on the bike I couldn’t see his line, and on the video I could see how his line was. I still believe in that opinion.”

Rossi later told the press that his opinion on the pass was also unchanged — as was his tense relationship with his soon to be ex-teammate.

“It was a beautiful, great overtake. I liked it a lot,” Rossi said, reported motorsport

“I think, after the last race of last year, my relationship with Jorge has remained the same. We’ve always had our own ideas.”

Yamaha thinks Jorge Lorenzo could be waiting on Ducati MotoGP offer

Yamaha MotoGP boss Lin Jarvis believes Jorge Lorenzo is waiting to evaluate a potential offer from Ducati following Yamaha proposing a MotoGP contract extension last week.

Both Yamaha riders' contracts expire at the end of 2016, and the manufacturer put two-year extensions - negotiated over recent weeks - to Lorenzo and team-mate Valentino Rossi.

Rossi put pen to paper while in Qatar, with his new deal announced on Saturday.

Jarvis says Lorenzo has what his management accepts is "the best offer they've had in Jorge's racing career", and he is now playing the waiting game.

"From Yamaha's side, we have put our best efforts to put a very good contract on the table," Jarvis said.

"Am I confident that he will accept? You can never be confident, because we are not alone, there are other competitors and Jorge is the current world champion and one of the fastest riders in the world.

"There will be other teams and constructors looking to attract his services.

"With a bit of luck, Jorge soon will also decide to go on with us."

Jarvis said there is a deadline attached to the offer, which he would not be drawn on, and that the early deals put to both riders was driven by Lorenzo's stated ambition of having a new deal secured before this weekend's season opener.

When asked who Lorenzo could be waiting on, Jarvis said: "My guess is Ducati, because Honda already has a top, leading rider.

"Ducati has two very competitive riders but from what I understand they are looking to take a top gun, one of the top four, in order to take their programme to another level."

That Lorenzo, who is entering his ninth MotoGP season with the factory Yamaha team, would want to wait and survey all of his options does not surprise Jarvis.

"From my experience with Jorge over many years, he is always somebody that wants to try to evaluate and understand all of his possibilities before making a commitment," he added.

"He always wants to try to stand a hundred per cent behind the decision that he finally makes.

"Maybe some other people would do it in a different way, but Jorge is somebody who, normally, he wants to understand.

"He wants to know everything, he wants to have it all laid out on the table, evaluate plus and minus and then decide.

"We hope that he will choose Yamaha and make the right decision.

"We can do no more than we have done, so we are comfortable with our proposal and comfortable with our team and our package and everything we have.

"But if somebody finally chooses to do something else, it's their right to do so."

Jorge Lorenzo 'sure' Casey Stoner will race for Ducati in MotoGP

Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo expects dual world champion Casey Stoner to make a handful of MotoGP wildcard appearances with Ducati next year.

Since retiring at the end of 2012, Stoner has worked with Honda as a test rider, but he split with the manufacturer last month to take up a similar role with Ducati.

Scope for the Australian to make wildcard MotoGP starts on a third factory Ducatialongside Andrea Dovizioso and Andrea Iannone has been mooted, and it is something 2015 world champion Lorenzo is expecting.

Stoner was keen to stand-in for the injured Dani Pedrosa earlier this year, but Honda opted against it.

"Surely he will be encouraged to run as a wildcard in some races; I think that is their intention," Lorenzo said in a MotoGP.com interview.

"I thought last [season] he would be out in a race, but at the end, due to circumstances, he wasn't.

"He will want to go out on Phillip Island or some other tracks, surely we will see him fighting with us, I think for victory."

Stoner won 38 MotoGP races with Ducati and Honda between 2007 and '12, however his only race since then was the Suzuka 8 Hours in July, in which he was injured in a crash.

Ducati has not won a race since Stoner left the Italian manufacturer at the end of 2010, but Lorenzo feels the 30-year-old would be strong if he returned.

"I have seen very few, if any, riders with the natural talent of Casey, to be fast right away with any bike and in all weather conditions," he said.

"It would be great news for everyone if Casey were to decide to come compete again.

"MotoGP is very difficult, many riders are fighting for victory, but having Casey back would be amazing.

"Hopefully he decides to return."