I think this was something he learnt from 2015. IIRC he dominated the 2015 test, particularly the race simulations but as we saw in 2015, the bike was not where it needed to be.MM I suspect neither needed nor wanted to go for a dominant time as Stoner would have done, but I would have liked to see it anyway.
As a Stoner tragic his first few laps on the Honda at the Jerez post season test in 2010 were one of the best things ever, particularly with Valentino realising simultaneously on the 2010 Ducati that he was totally screwed. My satisfaction back then was more with what Casey had demonstrated to the Valeban than to Valentino with whom I had much less of a problem at that point in time.