Completing two days of testing for HRC, Casey Stoner was back in the saddle of a MotoGP machine this week (at Motegi, of all places). The former World Champion only did a handful of laps on Tuesday (six in total) before the rain came in to the Twin Ring Motegi Circuit; but on Wednesday, Mother Nature cooperated a bit. Getting to do 47 laps in total on the 2013 Honda RC213V race bike yesterday, Stoner tested some “small items” for his former employer.
Positive about the test and being back on a bike, Stoner reaffirmed his decision to stay out of MotoGP, and dashed the hopes of any fans that were hoping to see the Australian make a wild card run at Phillip Island. Much to the disappointment of the media, Stoner did not get a chance to swing a leg over Honda’s planned MotoGP Production Racer, though HRC Executive Vice President Shuhei Nakamoto confirmed that a future test of the machine by Stoner is in the works.
A private test, and thus free of Dorna’s video restrictions, the fine folk at HRC have put together a short video of Casey on-board the RC213V in Japan. A far cry from the great material we got from Honda’s private test at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin (at some points in the video, we wonder if the videographer had some angry scarab beetles in their trousers), GP fans will surely still have an auralgasm as the RC213V goes by in anger.
“Thankfully today the weather improved a lot, in fact it was pretty hot, and we were able to get some good track time and work on our test program,” said Stoner. “We had a productive day in general and thankfully the test plan wasn’t too hectic, so we were able to get most of it done today, after yesterday’s washout.
“It was great to see the team, even if there were only a few people here, and I thank Honda for all their support as ever,” the Australian added. “It felt really good to get back on the bike after 9 months and I’m happy with how the test went, but it doesn’t change my mind about the wild cards – this is not something I am planning to do.”
Source: HRC
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