Repsol Honda to Field 3 Riders in 2011 MotoGP

When Casey Stoner announced his deal signing with Repsol Honda MotoGP team a few months ago, everybody assumed that one of the existing members of the team's lineup, Dani Pedrosa or Andrea Dovizioso, would be ousted at the end of the 2010 campaign.

Yet Honda Honda Racing Corporation decided to take another approach on the 2011 MotoGP campaign. In a time when everybody is trying to downsize their motor racing operation, the Japanese bike maker will go the other way around and tackle the next year's campaign with 3 riders. Meaning all of the three aforementioned riders will get to fight to bring Honda back where it belongs in the premier motorcycle racing series.

“Dani Pedrosa, Andrea Dovizioso and Casey Stoner will form a very strong factory Honda team line-up in 2011, evoking memories of the mid nineties, when Mick Doohan, Alex Criville and Shinichi Ito first rode in Repsol Honda colours,” said a statement from Honda earlier today.

For the first time since 2008, Honda will have a world champion competing for Repsol in the MotoGP, in the person of Casey Stoner. The Australian will therefore join Pedrosa, who will tackle his 6th consecutive campaign with the team, and Andrea Dovizioso, who will enter his 3rd consecutive season alongside Repsol Honda.

That being said, the riders lineups for the 2011 MotoGP series – at least regarding the championship "big guns" – are pretty much set, with Ducati to field 7-time MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi alongside Nicky Hayden, while Yamaha will promote Tech 3's Ben Spies alongside new MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo.

The first chance the three Honda riders will get to check out their new machines will be later this week, during the Valencia testing session.