Casey Stoner and HRC actually had talks about potential races at COTA, and this is arguably one of the most interesting developments in the recent history of Honda’s world-class racing program. Even so, it looks like Honda preferred to play the safest card and not have Stoner on the bike at COTA and Termas de Rio Hondo for several strong reasons. HRC’s Livio Suppo spoke to Motomattern and confirmed the existence of discussions about a possible replacement for Dani Pedrosa, who recently had new arm pump surgery. Honda understood that on a factory bike, Stoner would create very high expectations among fans. Many of them may even have dreamed of actually seeing him win again, as he had before he retired.
Suppo added that Stoner has no experience on any of these tracks as they were added to the calendar after he retired. Despite the fact that Casey Stoner is a test rider for HRC, his expertise aboard a motorcycle like Dani Pedrosa is very limited, while the 2015 Bridgestone tire race is also unknown to him.A small door remains open
Overall, Stoner’s presence in MotoGP as a replacement for Pedrosa had more disadvantages than strengths, according to the HRC official. However, Suppo did not offer any information about what could happen in the future. The fact is, nobody at Honda said anything about Stoner’s almost proverbial refusal to race (until now).
This could be a tiny open door that HRC has for Stoner in case he decides to take a better timed step towards the track. From his initial refusal to take on the deal for Suzuka 8 Hours to the prospect of Pedrosa being replaced by at least one MotoGP race, Casey Stoner seems to have moved on quite a bit.
Is this a sign that the 29-year-old Australian is considering returning the MotoGP paddock? We’d put money on “no” but it looks like no one can say for sure, not even Stoner himself.