Ducati scored five of the six fastest times during testing at Phillip Island in a show of strength to rival manufacturers that the 1198 is the bike to beat ahead of the WSBK season opener.

Factory Ducati Xerox rider Michel Fabrizio finished with the overall fastest test time with a 1min 31.650s with Althea Ducati pair Shane Byrne and Carlos Checa finishing second and fourth fastest with times of 1min 31.662s and 1min 31.959s respectively.

Speaking after the Monday morning session Byrne was pleased at his pace saying “it's very positive for the team to have both riders high in the rankings going into next weekend. We can't be too upset to finish second today by only a small margin.”

Carlos Checa was in the zone from the start of testing and finished as the fastest rider on the Sunday, declaring “I’m happy because we almost completed our planned work schedule and I'm feeling quite confident for the first two races of the championship”.

Althea Ducati general manager Genesio Bevilacqua was pleased with the teams progress over the weekend and both his riders should be battling for race wins this weekend. “Both our riders were consistently fast, they worked very hard and the results speak for themselves” he said. “Following these tests we now know we have a very competitive package and we're definitely looking forward to the season.”

Another satellite Ducati rider, Jakub Smrz, set the third fastest lap time with Ten Kate Honda’s Jonathan Rea finishing fifth fastest. Ducati Xerox rider and 2009 championship runner-up Noriyuki Haga completed the top six but with a good track record at Phillip Island - winning Race One in the same fixture last year – he is likely to show his true pace once the season proper starts this weekend.

1. Michel Fabrizio ITA Ducati Xerox 1198 1min 31.650s
2. Shane Byrne GBR Althea Ducati 1198 1min 31.662s
3. Jakub Smrz CZE PATA B&G Racing Ducati 1198 1min 31.680s
4. Carlos Checa ESP Althea Ducati 1198 1min 31.959s
5. Jonathan Rea GBR Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR 1min 32.175s
6. Noriyuki Haga JPN Ducati Xerox 1198 1min 32.247s
7. Leon Haslam GBR Alstare Suzuki GSX-R1000 1min 32.279s
8. Max Biaggi ITA Aprilia Alitalia Racing RSV-4 1min 32.474s
9. Leon Camier GBR Aprilia Alitalia Racing RSV-4 1min 32.621s
10. Max Neukirchner GER Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR 1min 32.691s
11. Ruben Xaus ESP BMW Motorrad S1000RR 1min 32.714s
12. James Toseland GBR Yamaha Sterilgarda YZF R1 1min 32.781s
13. Troy Corser AUS BMW Motorrad S1000RR 1min 32.819s
14. Lorenzo Lanzi ITA DFX Ducati 1198 1min 32.830s
15. Sylvain Guintoli FRA Alstare Suzuki GSX-R1000 1min 32.869s
16. Chris Vermeulen AUS Kawasaki SRT ZX-10R 1min 32.870s
17. Cal Crutchlow GBR Yamaha Sterilgarda YZF R1 1min 32.880s
18. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki SRT ZX-10R 1min 33.202s
19. Andrew Pitt AUS Reitwagen BMW S1000RR 1min 33.699s
20. Joshua Brookes AUS Echo-CRS Honda CBR1000RR 1min 33.710
21. Roland Resch AUT Reitwagen BMW S1000RR 1min 33.943s
22. Vittorio Iannuzzo ITA SCI Honda CBR1000RR 1min 34.945s
23. Matteo Baiocco ITA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1min 35.663s
24. Roger Lee Hayden USA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1min 35.763s

Collated test times courtesy of crash.net