Casey Stoner hasn’t regretted retiring ‘for a second’, will not test Honda’s MotoGP bike in 2014

SIX months on from his last competitive race, is two-time MotoGP world champ Casey Stoner having regrets over retiring? Not likely...

Stoner (C) indulged in one of his favourite pastimes during a recent US visit.

IT is unlikely two-time world champion Casey Stoner will even so much as ride a MotoGP bike in 2014 as he settles into his retirement from motorsport.

Although Marc Marquez is now romping away to a likely second-straight world title aboard the bike that Stoner gave up, the Australian maintains he has absolutely no regrets over leaving the sport.

“After retiring from MotoGP — which I know many people still can’t understand — I really needed some time off,” Stoner wrote in a blog for BT Sport.

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“I don’t regret my decision, not even for a second.”

After exiting MotoGP at the end of 2012, Stoner took part in a few test sessions in Japan at Honda’s request to help them develop their bike in the midst of their heated title battle with Yamaha.

Stoner testing Honda’s MotoGP bike in Japan last year.

He also briefly popped in for a visit to the MotoGP paddock during this year’s Austin race weekend to say hello to a few old friends as well as his old team, amid an extended holiday in the United States.

This year, though, Stoner has no plans on slipping into the saddle of his beloved Honda.

“Lots of people have asked if I’m going to be doing any testing, but I decided not to do anything this year, to have a complete break.

“I told Nakamoto san (Honda Racing Corporation vice president) and Livio (Suppo, Repsol Honda Team team principal) that I would like to do a test for them — if they need me to — out of goodwill, as last year many of my contracted test days were a wash out with bad weather, so I felt guilty for being paid not to ride. So we’ll see if that comes off.

“If not, I plan to have a relaxing winter here in Australia.”

Although Stoner harbours no regrets on his two-wheel exit, he concedes that he rushed into a four-wheel career.

Stoner, with much fanfare, stepped into a Red Bull Racing-prepared car for the 2013 Dunlop Series.

Although he showed flashes of speed, the year was largely a struggle adapting his finely-tuned motorcycle racing genius to the racecraft required by a big, heavy sedan.

Stoner crashed out of several Dunlop Series races last year.

“If I’m honest, I didn’t expect things to progress so quickly,” he explains.

“I imagined a few tests in 2013 and then see how I was getting on towards the end of the year. However, before I knew it things had accelerated and there was an option for me to take part in the Dunlop Series.

“I decided “what the heck” and went for it. With hindsight it was too much too soon — I should have taken the whole of 2013 off to re-evaluate things and take my time.

“So after we finished with the V8’s there was an option for 2014, but together with my wife Adriana, we decided that we should take some time to take a step back and see where we were.”

Whether or not he ever does decide to come back to motorsport, Stoner is now simply enjoying the freedom to do whatever he likes.

It’s a freedom he has earnt through his years of racing at the highest level of a dangerous sport, and all that it entails.

“For now, I’m happy to relax and not live out of a suitcase for the first time since I can remember.”