Honda excited by Stoner and Pedrosa battle

Honda bosses reckon the intense internal battle between Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa will provide a fascinating sub-plot during the 2011 MotoGP world championship.

The Repsol Honda pair have been is superb form throughout winter testing as the new factory RC212V machine has stolen a march on rivals Yamaha and Ducati.

Stoner recently dominated the second Sepang test in Malaysia earlier this month and he ended this week’s Qatar night test with the fastest time.

Spanish team-mate Pedrosa has also been in consistently fast form throughout winter testing and HRC boss Livio Suppo said he is looking forward to the rivalry generated by the pair.

It is the first time since both graduated to MotoGP that they have faced stiff competition from inside their own garage.

Stoner was the standout rider at Ducati between 2007 and 2010 while Pedrosa hasn’t finished behind a team-mate in the rankings since his rookie premier class campaign in 2006.

Suppo told MCN: “We always speak about Ducati not being able to win without Casey, but it has been exactly the same for Honda and Dani. In normal circumstances, only Dani has been able to win with the Honda.

“For Dani and Casey it is a new situation because they both have in the same garage on the same bike another super strong rider and it will be interesting to see how they react.”