Momentum grows for Stoner returning to Ducati

With the 2015 MotoGP season having drawn to a close on Sunday night the start of the new season has come with a bombshell from Ducati that Casey Stoner could return to MotoGP as a test rider.

While the Italian manufacturer wouldn’t confirm their negotiations with the Australian double world champion far from denying it Paulo Ciabatti said:

“I can only say that Casey is a hero of Ducati fans and he won so many races and was a world champion for Ducati in 2007,” said the Ducati Sporting Director. “He obviously moved to Honda but is still in the heart of Ducati fans and the people at Ducati. We will see what the future brings but we know that his contract with Honda will expire at the end of this year and obviously if there’s a chance to do something together we would love to do it. That’s all that I can say at the moment.”

Stoner came close to a comeback earlier this year when he offered his services to Honda to replace Dani Pedrosa when the Repsol Honda rider was injured. At the time Stoner tweeted that “it would have been an honour to have ridden for Pedrosa but that it wasn’t meant to be.”

At the time Repsol Honda team principal Livio Suppo said that “We talked and Casey would have liked to do it, but it was better not to. We have already started the championship with a fifth place instead of a victory, so we have to stay focused. It would have been great for all the fans, but Casey never raced in Texas, and the expectations to see him at the front would have probably been unrealistic. The level is really high at this point. It was better this way, for everyone involved.”

Having the carrot of a MotoGP bike in front of him had been enough to get Stoner interested in returning to race. Honda were unwilling to meet his request and it’s clear that Stoner has now looked elsewhere. While a full-time return to the grid is still unlikely a return to Ducati will give him the opportunity to continue testing and developing top line Grand Prix bikes while also leaving open the possibility of a wild card return.