JUST seven months on from his retirement from the sport Casey Stoner is to get back in the saddle for a series of tests on the latest version of the Honda RC213V.
The Australian’s decision to quit MotoGP at the end of last year led to plenty of speculation that he’d be back on a bike, perhaps as a wildcard or even in a full-time race seat, but he promises that the four tests he’s scheduled to do aren’t the prelude to a race return.
All the tests are at Motegi in Japan, and he’ll be riding both the latest ‘works’ spec RCV and the forthcoming production race bike that Honda hopes to sell to smaller teams to race next year.
Stoner said: "It's been almost seven months now since Valencia and I'm still happy and comfortable with the decision I made to stop motorcycle racing, even if sometimes I miss riding my RCV. That's why I am happy with HRC's offer to do some tests in Motegi this year! This will allow me to enjoy what I miss: riding a MotoGP bike! I can't wait to get on the RCV to see how it has changed from last year and I'd like to thank Honda for this opportunity."
Shuhei Nakamoto, Executive Vice President of Honda Racing Corporation, added: "We are very pleased to have Casey back in the team! He knows this machine very well and I'm sure he can help our engineers and technicians with the development of the RC213V. We will also ask him to test the new production racer and give us his initial feedback to assist us in producing the best machine possible."
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