Francesco Bagnaia is leaning on Casey Stoner’s advice about Phillip Island as he aims to emulate the Australian as a MotoGP champion for Ducati.

The Italian closed to just two points behind championship leader Fabio Quartararo when he finished third last time out at Buriram, with just three races to go.

Bagnaia has raced just once at Phillip Island on a MotoGP bike, due to the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, when he achieved a then career-best result on a year-old, Pramac-entered Ducati.

Now, he is the factory team leader, arriving at a circuit where Stoner won four from four on a factory Ducati and then two from two on a factory Honda before retiring at the end of 2012.

He is known to follow the tutelage of the 2007 and 2011 world champion, and the two have already spoken at Phillip Island, where Stoner is in attendance.

“Also today, I speak a bit with Casey,” confirmed the 2018 Moto2 champion.

“For sure, it’s very important to try to take an advantage from him.

“For sure, it’s the best way possible to learn something from him at this track, so I will try to understand everything.”

#AustralianGP 🇦🇺
G’day 😏 @Official_CS27 @alpinestars pic.twitter.com/Iv9SGUzxSf

— Pecco Bagnaia (@PeccoBagnaia) October 13, 2022

Given he has gone from year-old bike in 2019 to current-spec machinery this year, Bagnaia has the benefit of four years of Ducati evolution relatively to MotoGP’s last stop in Australia.

While the Desmosedici is a far more balance machine, with far better handling in addition to its astonishing power, the 25-year-old maintains that the biggest difference is what is sitting on top of it.

“More than the bike I think I’ve improved more myself from 2019,” he said.

“I think that the biggest difference is the handling of our bike.

“The chassis is the same, so, not so many changes apart from the front fairing which, already this year, has helped us this year a lot in fast corners.

“So, I think that in this track, it will help us more.”

Free Practice 1 for the premier class field is due to start on Friday at 09:55 local time/AEDT.