MotoGP: Casey Stoner to Race at Indy Despite Injury

Dani Pedrosa said it best during Saturday’s press conference when he told the assembled press that Casey Stoner is one tough racer, and if he was able to ride on Sunday, he would be fast. Seen in the pit box this morning hobbling on crutches to and fro, Stoner was sixth quickest in the warm-up session — Dani might just be right.

Over half a second back from the injured Ben Spies, who lead the session, Stoner’s position may not reflect the blistering pace we are accustomed to seeing from the reigning-World Champion, but considering the Australian tore a number of ligaments, along with a series of fractures in his ankle, tibia, and fibula, we would say that we are fairly impressed with Casey’s pace so far today.

After getting cleared by MotoGP medical staff this morning, Stoner’s warm-up session also confirmed his personal desire to race in the Indianapolis GP. The Repsol Honda team has now issued a press release starting Stoner’s official participation in Red Bull Indianapolis GP. Read it after the jump.

Casey Confirms He Will Race in Indianapolis:

After suffering a variety of fractures to his ankle, tibia and fibula along with torn ligaments due to his spectacular high side crash during qualifying yesterday, Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner has confirmed he will be on the grid for the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix today.

Casey arrived at the track early this morning and was greeted by a team of local doctors from the Circuit Medical Centre. After some initial tests they confirmed that they were satisfied with Casey’s movement and mobility and declared him fit to race, if he felt comfortable to do so. The ankle was heavily strapped and supported, and his Alpinestars boot modified to allow Casey to ride in this morning’s twenty minute warm up session. Although painful, the current World Champion reported that he felt comfortable on the bike and would like to take part in the 28 lap race.

Local doctors will give him a 60mg Toradol injection an hour before the race to dull the acute pain, along with Aspalgin to help him manage for the 45 minute race.