Michael Dunlop made a solid race debut on the Milwaukee Ducati Panigale V2 at the Daytona 200 in Florida, where the Ballymoney man finished ninth.
Dunlop qualified in 16th position on the Italian machine and worked his way through into the top ten in the famous 200-mile race at the Daytona International Speedway.
The 35-year-old raced at Daytona for the first time in 2021, when he was 11th on a Kawasaki.
The race at Daytona Beach in the USA was stopped twice because of rain and a crash after the restart.
American Josh Herrin became the first rider in the history of the event to win in three successive years.
Peter Hickman finished fourth on his PHR Performance Triumph 765 but there was disappointment for teammate Richard Cooper, who was forced to retire with machine trouble.
Dunlop has been getting to grips with the Ducati machine after testing the bike for the first time in January at Jerez in Spain.
He has not yet announced his line-up of bikes for the big road races in 2025 but is clearly considering the Ducati as a possibility for the North West 200 and Isle of Man TT.
Dunlop experimented with a Triumph 765 in 2024 and finished on the podium in both Supersport races at the North West.
He also rode the British machine in practice at the TT but switched back to his MD Racing Yamaha R6 and won both Supersport races, extending his unbeaten run in the class on the Yamaha to six victories.
Dunlop is set to compete in the Le Mans 24 Hours race in France next month on a BMW M1000RR for Team LPR Poland as he prepares for the North West 200, which takes place from May 7-10.
Last year, he broke his uncle Joey’s record of 26 wins at the TT, winning four races to reach 29 wins.