MOTOGP

Although he hasn't been on a MotoGP bike since October of last year, retired two-time MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner continues his role as a part-time development test rider for HRC with the Australian finishing up a two-day test at Motegi. Riding the 2015 RC213V prototype, Stoner took advantage of nice weather to put in a good number of laps over the two days. On the first day, he rode the bike using setups taken from current Repsol Honda riders Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa for comparison and data analysis, as well as various engine development and other R&D parts. The second day was spent riding the 2015 prototype with the latest Michelin development tires, as Honda prepares for the switch from Bridgestone to Michelin as the spec tire supplier in 2016.

"It took some time to get used to riding the bike again after a year off it," said Stoner. "But everything felt good, I got back into the swing of things pretty quickly and we just got on with the testing program HRC had planned. Day one went pretty well, testing both Marc and Dani’s setups on the 2015 prototype machines and analyzing 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 tires for 2016. All in all it was very positive two-day test and we completed a lot of laps.”