Casey Stoner's wrist will be under the spotlight in Qatar this weekend when the Australian kicks off his campaign to take back the MotoGP title from Valentino Rossi.
Ducati's 2007 world champion starts as favourite to win tomorrow night's season-opener (start: 22.00 Malta time) and seal a hat-trick of victories at the fast and flowing Losail circuit on the outskirts of Doha.
Stoner was runner-up to Yamaha's Rossi last year with the highest points tally ever amassed without taking the title and the renewal of their duel is eagerly awaited.
However the Australian has not completed any race distances since undergoing scaphoid surgery in November, although he is confident that will not be a problem.
"The wrist is coming better all the time and the arm is getting stronger so there are no complaints," the 23-year-old Queenslander told Britain's Motorcycle News.
"It doesn't affect me when I'm riding."
Stoner, who now has Honda's 2006 champion Nicky Hayden as a team-mate, won in Qatar last year.
Italian Rossi, now 30 and just three wins away from his 100th grand prix victory after taking his sixth title in the top category, has won twice before in Qatar but never at night. Last year's race was one of only two without Rossi on the podium that season.
"I'm feeling confident, we're in good shape even if we're going to what was our worst track during testing, but I am happy about the performance of my M1 (bike) in general," said Rossi in a team preview.
MotoGP has moved to a single tyre supplier, with all 18 riders on Bridgestone, while cutting costs by reducing the amount of practice time before a race to save engine mileage.
Kawasaki have quit the championsip as a works team due to the credit crunch but will still be represented by Italian Marco Melandri riding one of their bikes for Hayate Racing.
That team was set up after commercial rights holders Dorna threatened to sue Kawasaki because they had a contract through 2011.
Dani Pedrosa, third overall last year, will be in Qatar despite having surgery on the knee and wrist injured in a crash in testing at the circuit last month. Sete Gibernau, Rossi's one-time rival who retired in 2006, makes a comeback with a privately-entered Ducati at the age of 36.