Casey Stoner: The first time I've pushed in years!

Casey Stoner was quick to see the funny side after suffering his first MotoGP fall in four years, at the end of testing in Austria on Wednesday.

The retired double MotoGP champion had improved from fourth on the opening day to third when he left the track with a soft tyre to push for a faster lap time.

However the Australian was caught out at Turn 6 and remained 0.625s from the top - albeit behind only factory Ducati race stars Andrea Iannone and Andrea Dovizioso - before sending the following tweet:

Rolling Stoner returns First time using a soft tyre in 4 years, crashed first time in 4 years! #LeaveItToThePro's pic.twitter.com/fI7AhXF3vt-- Casey Stoner (@Official_CS27) July 20, 2016

Speaking later in the evening, Stoner explained: "To be honest, the corner before [the fall] was the first time I've pushed in years. I can go around and do the lap times I was doing. In every test you get unto a mode, a motion. No sense in taking any risks. I almost never run wide, let alone make a mistake.

"It's the first time I've put a soft tyre in for many years. The corner before I had more chance of crashing probably, because I went in there and was ready for it. Everything went well. Then I went into the next corner and the front just closed on me.

"For sure I had maybe a little bit more speed, but because we arrive on the limiter you can't really go faster into that corner. The limiter just arrives earlier because you have more grip.

"So it was a little bit strange for me, but anyway clearly because of the soft tyre. We've been running the hard tyre all day for the last two days. So we probably had a little more weight coming from the rear onto the front and just wasn't ready for it.

"It was just on the way to Turn 6. I didn't even get to maximum angle. It was disappointing but at the same time it's been good; four years without basically making a mistake - it had to come to an end sometime!"

Ducati confirms to https://t.co/6weQziU5bt no wild-card for Casey Stoner in Austria: 'It's not going to happen'. pic.twitter.com/WrXM3mrK3m-- Crash.net MotoGP (@crash_motogp) July 20, 2016

Ducati riders dominated testing at the Red Bull Ring, filling the top four places on both days. The circuit will host the first Austrian motorcycle grand prix since 1997 next month.

"We're getting the bike to turn quite well. Braking stability seems quite good. Of course we've got power but we're only reaching a little bit above 310 here. I don't really see a weakness at this point," Stoner said of the Ducati.

"Maybe we could get the bike to turn a little bit better, but saying that we haven't got the latest chassis I tested [last time] at Misano which improved in that area."

Iannone, who led the timesheets by 0.440s from Dovizioso, used the new chassis.

Click Here for full Wednesday test times.

By Peter McLaren