Former MotoGP world champion Casey Stoner does two-day test ride, but it’s a one-off
NEVER say never, but Casey Stoner may have ridden his last laps on a MotoGP bike for the forseeable future.
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NEVER say never, but Casey Stoner may have ridden his last laps on a MotoGP bike for the forseeable future.
The retired former world champion has completed a two-day test for Honda in Japan aboard the bike Marc Marquez will race next season.
Though happily retired from race action the test was an act of goodwill from Stoner to Honda, after they recruited him for a test program last year only for it to be truncated by rain.
“It took some time to get used to riding the bike again after a year off it!” Stoner said.
STONER’S MOTOGP TEST A ONE-OFF
“But everything felt good, I got back into the swing of things pretty quickly and we just got on with the testing programme HRC had planned.
Stoner pounded around the Motegi circuit logging vital development miles aboard the machine, doing setup work as well as testing Honda’s latest engine developments.
He also sampled the Michelin tyres the sport’s premier class will switch to in 2016.
“Day one went pretty well, testing both Marc and Dani’s setups on the 2015 prototype machines and analysing these side by side we found some interesting differences and useful data.
“We also did some engine development and some other new items Honda brought for this test. Then today (Thursday) we spent some time on the Michelin tyres for 2016.
“All in all it was very positive two-day test and we completed a lot of laps.”
WHY CASEY STONER ISN’T COMING BACK
However, it may be the last time Stoner swings his leg over a MotoGP bike for some time, with both he and Repsol Honda team principal Livio Suppo confirming that it was purely a one-off.
“As we said earlier in the year the test has been organised with him after we lost some test time last year due to bad weather,” Suppo told GPOne.com.
“So we’ve put together this two-day test, but for now there is no other test program planned.
“We prefer to take a day-by-day approach.”
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