No. 27 Casey Stoner has begun testing for Ducati at Sepang. This is the first test for the Australian with the Italian manufacturer this season, after terminating his contract with Honda last season as a test rider. Stoner returned to Ducati after winning a championship on a Honda and then spending a couple of years as test rider for the Japanese manufacturer.

Last year Stoner  was not happy with Honda’s decision to use Hiroshi Aoyama as a replacement rider for Dani Pedrosa, when Casey had publicly stated that he would like to fill in for his old friend and teammate. He raced with Honda at the Suzuka Endurance race and suffered a major crash thanks to a stuck throttle on his bike. Later Honda tried to act as if the rider was at fault and not as if it was a mechanical problem. Rumours abound that a clash of egos with Marc Marquez was also a reason for the Australian leaving the Japanese manufacturer.

Casey had enjoyed good relations with the personnel at Ducati even after having left the factory, but Gigi Dall’Igna, Ducati Corse General Manager and designer of the successful GP15 was the convincing factor. Stoner had raced since childhood with the Aprilia squad in which Gigi was the head guy there. Also, with the change in ownership of Ducati (Audi had taken over Ducati after Stoner’s exit), the Australian believed that the work ethic of the team had changed for the better.

Official testing starts at Sepang in a couple of days with the teams using their official riders, with the winter ban in place till the 31st of January only. Ducati are giving their bike a shakedown with the test riders at hand: Casey Stoner and Michele Pirro. Stoner might also ride on track with the official riders, but that is still unofficial! Andrea Iannone and Andrea Dovizioso will be the ones riding during the official test, where times will be recorded. It would be great to see where the Australian stands in comparison to the two Andreas as well as with the Aliens, Lorenzo, Rossi, Marquez and Pedrosa.

Warming up the Desmosedici for @Official_CS27 #forzaducati pic.twitter.com/i922IwdesV

— Ducati Motor (@DucatiMotor) January 29, 2016

Photos Courtesy: Ducati Twitter