Photo: crash.net
There will be no Casey Stoner on the track at Termas de Rio Hondo in Argentina or at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin. The Australian rider has been talking briefly to the media and said that the rumors that saw him possibly substituting for Octo Pramac Yakhnich's injured Danilo Petrucci are nothing short of being entirely false.
The MotoGO Legend added that his sole goal for the moment is seeing to his new job, and that is testing with the Ducati bikes. "There's no truth in that. Honestly, my biggest goal at the moment is to get some tests out of the way and improve the bike for the Ducati riders, and hope to help make them even more competitive than in race one.
"That is the most important thing. So no, we have no thoughts of wild-cards or replacements. Just because it's a similar situation to last year, I'm not approaching it in any way the same," Stoner added.
Speculations built up after Danilo Petrucci retired from the Free Practice sessions ahead of the season opener race in Qatar, and the Italian doctors said that the worst case scenario would see Petrux missing both the Argentina and the Austin rounds.
The first day of private tests with Ducati was hampered by rain, with Stoner only being able to put in three laps without rain. The main goal of the Qatar post-race test with the Aussie is a comparison between the GP15 and the GP16 (Desmosedici GP) bikes that will help Ducati learn more about how they can improve the latter.
With Stoner slashing the rumors about making a start in any of the two upcoming races, it looks like his colleague Michele Pirro will be substituting for Petrucci. Ducati's season debut saw Dovizioso finishing the race in the second position in Qatar, and with a customer bike ninth, followed by a satellite one in tenth.
"That is the most important thing. So no, we have no thoughts of wild-cards or replacements. Just because it's a similar situation to last year, I'm not approaching it in any way the same," Stoner added.
Speculations built up after Danilo Petrucci retired from the Free Practice sessions ahead of the season opener race in Qatar, and the Italian doctors said that the worst case scenario would see Petrux missing both the Argentina and the Austin rounds.
The first day of private tests with Ducati was hampered by rain, with Stoner only being able to put in three laps without rain. The main goal of the Qatar post-race test with the Aussie is a comparison between the GP15 and the GP16 (Desmosedici GP) bikes that will help Ducati learn more about how they can improve the latter.
With Stoner slashing the rumors about making a start in any of the two upcoming races, it looks like his colleague Michele Pirro will be substituting for Petrucci. Ducati's season debut saw Dovizioso finishing the race in the second position in Qatar, and with a customer bike ninth, followed by a satellite one in tenth.
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