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It had been in the air for some time, but now it is official: Casey Stoner will be back in the saddle and it will be on a Ducati again. The Australian rider, who has been in the role of “special tester” from this year for the Borgo Panigale based Manufacturer, will take advantage of his participation as testimonial at the World Ducati Weekend (WDW) held at the Misano track from the first to the third of July.
The super-fast and expert rider will arrive ahead of the red-coloured festival on Wednesday and Thursday, taking to the track astride the Ducati MotoGP bike in a test that all the Ducati mechanics have been enthusiastically awaiting, not to mention the company’s top management.
For the Australian talent it is a chance to have fun, and that is what he will do, but it is also an opportunity to see how the GP measures up in terms of competitiveness as Ducati’s complete weapon in Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing.
Casey knows the Misano track well, having raced there during various seasons and having won there with Ducati in 2007, the year he won the championship title with the 800cc model. It is also the same track that will host the first test for Same Lowes on Wednesday astride the Aprilia MotoGP, a bike the British rider will compete on next season. Along with Stoner and Lowes, Michele Pirro will also be on the track, the rider-tester for the red bikes from Borgo Panigale.
Coming back to Stoner, the two-time MotoGP World Champion (2007 with Ducati and 2011 with Honda), already tested the Desmosedici GP bike in the preseason tests at Sepang in Malaysia. Despite not having ridden the Ducati for many years and being unfamiliar with the new Michelin tyres, he astonished everyone with his usual spectacular style and speed, to the point that even the current team riders, Andrea Dovizioso and Andrea Iannone, were feeling the pressure.
In Malaysia Stoner was on the first version of this year’s bike, whereas at Misano, the Australian rider will most likely be astride the evolution of the Desmosedici GP, the same model ridden by the riders in the races this season. Among other things, Casey had also expressed the desire to test the Panigale SBK, but there is no concrete news on that for now.
For all Ducatisti and non, this will be a special chance to see one of the greatest Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing talents of the last 20 years, the only one who successfully brought home the sought after title in the top category for the company from Bologna. After him, we have seen more or less illustrious disappointments and failures.
Asked and pressured about a possible return to racing, Casey has clarified several times that he is not interested. At the most, he would like to participate in one of the calendar races as a wild card (on invitation) and, who knows, this test could be Stoner’s preparation for the Australian Phillip Island race.
