TWO-TIME MotoGP world champion Casey Stoner made his return to the track over the weekend when he swung a leg over the Ducati Desmosecidi GP bike at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia for a private test on Saturday.
It’s the first time the Australian rider has ridden a Ducati since the last round of the 2010 MotoGP championship at Valencia.
Stoner completed 54 laps and set a fastest time of 2:02.1s on his final run in the late afternoon.
Following the test, he said:
‘It’s been a really good experience today with the Ducati Team. I wasn’t too sure what to expect but everybody has been fantastic, welcoming me and working with me to try and get the best out of myself and this bike. I need some time to get back to speed and get the feeling back, because I haven’t ridden a MotoGP bike for one year and any bike at all for six months. It was a very productive first day, we got comfortable with the bike and the tyres a lot more quickly than I thought I would. We’ve got a lot of things to test and get myself a little bit more acquainted with the bike but generally I’m very happy. The Desmosedici GP has a lot of potential, hopefully we can give the right input and help the two Andreas to try and achieve something great this year. I’m pretty happy and surprised with my lap time to be honest, hopefully the next day we can be a bit more comfortable after sleeping on it. It’s been fantastic working with Gabriele (Conti) again and with Marco (Palmerini) and Gigi (Dall’Igna): everyone has been really professional. So far, so good!’
He will be back on track tomorrow for the second day of the first official 2016 MotoGP test.
Stoner’s return to Ducati follows five years of working with Honda and HRC, during which time he won the 2011 title. His time with Ducati was equally successful – he won 10 out of 18 races in 2007, securinghis first championship in the process and between 2007 and 2010, he won a total of 23 races for Ducati.
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