Photo: MotoGP
When the world found out Casey Stoner was returning to work with Ducati’s MotoGP team in the role of test rider, there were two questions to be answered: Is he still fast enough, and will he race?
We found out the answer to the first question this week, in the official Sepang test. Stoner was the fastest Ducati rider by the end of Wednesday’s testing, ninth on the time sheet overall, and fifth on the day. Sounding uncharacteristically cheery, Stoner said he was very happy with the way things had gone throughout the test, and he felt great physically.
He was 1.490 seconds behind leader Lorenzo — not bad, considering Stoner’s had quite a few months off since his retirement. Which raises the second question: How soon until we see him actually take to track? There have been rumours of wild card appearances this year, although nothing’s been confirmed yet.
Rather, during testing, Stoner concentrated on the GP15 at Sepang, not the GP16. He’s also supposedly not taking part in the official Phillip Island test, which is next up on the MotoGP schedule, so it sounds as if he’s not desperately anxious to log hours yet, even if he is feeling fast. Don’t expect to see him lined up at Qatar, in other words.
[…] media went on and on about who must leave Ducati, why and when the deal would be announced. It spiralled into crazy town when Casey Stoner was suddenly an official Ducati test rider, and armchair speculators began drawing up fantasy football type teams, debating furiously over who […]
Well done stoner! Smartest racer around, gets to ride a gp bike without the gp bs…
It was great to see him riding and in the paddock again. I sincerely doubt he’ll ever come out of retirement, though; although he love riding, he hates the media circus surrounding MotoGP.
Everyone else on a Ducati should be updating their resume.
So glad to see news of Stoner .. even if he isnt racing .. he is still there 🙂