“I think Marquez and his whole group felt threatened by me”: Casey Stoner talks about his time as a test rider for Honda
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Considered to belong in the same level as the legendary Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, etc, Australian rider Casey Stoner is one of the few riders who stay in the upper echelon of the MotoGP society because of his tremendous skills and unbelievable achievements in the sport. The racer, who is currently 36 years old, retired from his role of a racing rider in MotoGP in 2012, and decided to remain in Honda as a test rider.
Upon Casey Stoner’s retirement, Repsol Honda Team signed Marc Marquez, who turned out to be another great racer and an eventual six-time MotoGP World Championship title winner. While Casey Stoner stayed in the Honda MotoGP team as a test rider, he rarely went out on the tracks with his motorbike during his tenure from 2013 to 2017. While fans have always wondered the reason why the Australian seldom rode his RC213V, he is now explaining the reason behind it.
Casey Stoner believes Marc Marquez felt threatened by him during his term as a Honda test rider
Having won two World Championships in MotoGP for Ducati and Honda, Casey Stoner is regarded as an excellent rider, and when Marc Marquez was recruited in his place, the young Spaniard had some big shoes to fill. With Casey staying on in Honda as a test rider, the Australian believes Marquez was threatened by him.
While speaking about his time as a test rider for the Japanese racing team in a recent interview with Motosprint, Casey Stoner said, “At Honda I was only an occasional test rider, I had no other position and, to tell you the truth, they never fully exploited my potential. I think Marquez and his whole group felt threatened by me. I don’t know why they thought that, but that’s my feeling.”
Casey Stoner gives an account of the time he felt undervalued by Honda as their test rider solely because Marc Marquez allegedly felt threatened by him. He also said, “I was at Honda to do some tests, to test new things that could then be transferred to the factory riders, so I was there to help Marc. But it is also true that the number one rider is the one that everybody has to follow.”
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Riddhi Mondal
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