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Casey Stoner to continue testing for HRC

Stoner and HRC Vice President Shuhei Nakamoto renew testing agreement

January 14, 2015

When former two-time MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner retired at the end of the 2012 season, he cited the lack of enjoyment with racing due to the politically-influenced changes in the sport, as well as the media grind. But the Australian never lost his enjoyment for riding the bikes, and his relationship with HRC vice president Shuhei Nakamoto enabled him to continue as an invaluable test rider for the firm since then. Stoner's former crew chief Cristian Gabbarini has previously cited that, besides Stoner's obvious riding talent, one of his strengths was the two-time World Champion's ability to sense minute changes in setup in just a couple of laps and be able to translate that information to the crew in the debrief.

So it was no surprise to see HRC announce that it would continue its testing relationship with Stoner in 2015, with a test scheduled for January 29 - 31 at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia just before the official pre-season IRTA test. A second test is planned for the end of the year, but obviously the details haven't been firmed up yet.

Stoner participated in a two-day test at Motegi back in October, so he hasn't been out of the saddle that long. Still, with the test being in Sepang with high humidity in addition to high temps, he knows he'll have to get his fitness level up before then. "After having a long break from riding, it was refreshing to get back on a bike a few months ago," said Stoner in the HRC press release. "Now after a relaxing Christmas and New Year I'm happy to announce that I've been speaking to Nakamoto-san and we have come to an agreement in continuing our relationship. I am currently preparing to ride in Sepang in a few weeks - which will be very different weather and humidity to Motegi - so I need to get myself fit!"

“First of all, Happy New Year!," states Nakamoto in the press release. "We are very happy to be able to start 2015 by announcing the continuation of our relationship with Casey and keep him in the Honda family. The feedback he gives HRC is invaluable and we are fortunate to have a test rider capable to push the RC213V to its limits.”