Casey Stoner completes HRC test in Japan

Casey Stoner has completed his first MotoGP test in 12 months at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan today after giving HRC staff crucial feedback on the 2015 factory RC213V contender.

The Australian tested the bike dominant reigning world champion Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa will race next season on Bridgestone tyres before he gave his impressions of the 2016-spec Michelin tyres in a successful two-day test.

Stoner last appeared on a MotoGP bike last October when he agreed to carry out some testing appearances for HRC following his shock decision to retire at the end of 2012.

Stoner, who won two premier class world titles with Ducati in 2007 and Repsol Honda in 2011, said: “It took some time to get used to riding the bike again after a year off it. But everything felt good, I got back into the swing of things pretty quickly and we just got on with the testing programme HRC had planned. Day one went pretty well, testing both Marc and Danni’s setups on the 2015 prototype machines and analysing these side by side we found some interesting differences and useful data.”

“We also did some engine development and some other new items Honda brought for this test. Then today we spent some time on the Michelin tyres for 2016. All in all it was very positive two-day test and we completed a lot of laps.”

No lap times were released from the test.