Stoner returning to Ducati as Tester

Say if Stoner can help develop GP16 into a winning bike, how does he not come back in 2017 and take a shot at another title? He owe it to himself, to his fans, to the sport, and Ducati for literally begging him to come back.

When he left Honda, they already had Marquez lined up, Repsol knew they weren't going to be left with a void. When Stoner left Ducati, they also thought Rossi can step in the just keep on winning. I think now they all realize how important it was to keep a winning rider, give Suzuki a year and KTM, Aprilia, there'll be a lot of demand for top talent. Can Pedrosa make a move to a new factory?

jyli19 said:

Say if Stoner can help develop GP16 into a winning bike, how does he not come back in 2017 and take a shot at another title? He owe it to himself, to his fans, to the sport, and Ducati for literally begging him to come back.




When he left Honda, they already had Marquez lined up, Repsol knew they weren't going to be left with a void. When Stoner left Ducati, they also thought Rossi can step in the just keep on winning. I think now they all realize how important it was to keep a winning rider, give Suzuki a year and KTM, Aprilia, there'll be a lot of demand for top talent. Can Pedrosa make a move to a new factory?

Click to expand...

Are you for real ? Stoner owes nothing to anyone.

Absolutely not a good idea to slide the rear while your elbow is down

Absolutely agree. Rossi was the most consistent and stable rider. He did not have outright best pace but that he never had. He was the only one who could take it to Marquez and put him out of contention from the beginning of the season and hats of to him. MM is a bloody prodigy and only THE DOCTOR could and did put him down. Lorenzo rode on that and in the end Rossi was cheated out of the title. Look at Lorenzo last year or the year before MM broke him mentally and professionally.
The only mistake Rossi made was Misano in my opinion he should have ridden the race and not Lorenzo. Loosing out to Pedrosa and Aragon was also a bit un Rossi like. But still i thin this title was deserved by the old dog. Story repeats itself 2006 allover again just different circumstances.

looks like someone is warming up

posted yesterday on the facetubes

"Back in Red. First picture of Casey Stoner picking up his Panigale 1299s from Motosport Goldcoast."

Looks like he finally rode 2015 Desmosedici GP

"Stoner completed a total of 54 laps on the 2015 model Desmosedici GP machine, setting a best time of 2m02.1s on his final run late in the afternoon"

Phl said:

Looking forward to stoner's interview

Click to expand...

But asked by Gazetta dello Sport if he reckoned he was quick enough for a podium finish in next month's season-opening Qatar Grand Prix, Stoner replied:

"Speaking honestly, probably not".

He reiterated that racing again was not on his agenda.

"People talk too much. And people say that [I might race] because I'm competitive," Stoner said.

"But I didn't retire because I wasn't [competitive] anymore.

"Maybe I wouldn't last more than five or six laps because I'm not fit...

"There are no plans to race."

Stoner played down the significance of Honda spurning him as a potential stand-in for Dani Pedrosa last year in his decision to move teams.

"Things weren't perfect before that already," he said of the Honda relationship.

"My tests did not seem to work well, they wouldn't use my capabilities.

"I wasn't there just to make some money, do a few laps and that's it. I wanted to be involved, and when there was a problem I wanted to help.

"But someone at Honda did not want this. It's as if they thought I wanted to return to racing and cause problems."

He denied that Marc Marquez himself had created tensions over Stoner's presence.

"Marc doesn't care who he races against. He likes battles, with or without me wouldn't change a thing for him," Stoner said.

"But people around him thought differently.

"It was a disappointment, I was just there to help.

"Nobody would use my information or listen to my advice."

Stoner reserved particular criticism for Honda team boss Livio Suppo, who he had also worked with in his first stint at Ducati.

"He has never understood me, because he has never listened to me," he said.

"Had he listened to me and believed me, everything would have been easy.

"I don't need to race to find the passion, I can enjoy myself with my bikes away from this.