Stoner back on a bike testing for Ducati MotoGP team.
Casey Stoner has returned to the race track in his role as test rider for the Ducati MotoGP team, beginning preliminary testing in Sepang this weekend.
It was his first outing on a Ducati since the Valencia GP in 2010.
Casey completed 54 laps of the Sepang circuit on the Desmosedici GP15, acquainting himself with the new machine and the vastly different Michelin tyres and control ECU.
He reportedly set a best time of 2’02.1 during his last stint of the day in temperatures reaching about 40°C.
However, that time cannot be realistically compared to any previous lap times recorded at the circuit because of the changes to the ECU and tyre supplier for this year.
Fellow test rider Michele Pirro debuted the GP16 with a focus on testing fuel consumption.
Casey was happy with his performance but admits he is not yet at his peak.
“I still need a little more time to return to a competitive level and find the right feeling because I haven’t ridden a MotoGP bike for a year and haven’t been on a race bike for six months”, he said in a post-test interview.
“The Desmosedici GP has great potential and I hope to be able to give the right feedback to Gigi and the Ducati engineers to help the two Andreas get some good results this year.”
Casey Stoner is Ducati’s most successful MotoGP rider, winning the championship in his first year with the Ducati factory team in 2007 and taking 23 wins by the time he left for Honda in 2010.
Stoner is expected to complete two days of testing, one of which could be during the official pre-season test which starts on Monday, fuelling further speculation that he may compete in the 2016 season as a wild card entry.
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