Stoner surprised by Rea test
Added on Monday, February 14th, 2011 by Carole Nash Editor
Stoner surprised by Rea test
Casey Stoner has praised the decision to let World Superbike rider Jonathan Rea test the Honda RC212V ahead of the new season, even though he was surprised when he heard the news.
Stoner returns to Honda for 2011 alongside Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa, with the manufacturer leaving no stone unturned in their pursuit of their first constructor’s championship since 2006.
Rea, who has impressed in the last two years on board the Honda superbike, was asked to put the RC212V through its paces in December and Stoner believes that the decision could prove to be a very shrewd move by the factory bosses.
“I only found out he was riding my bike from the press,” claimed the Australian. “Actually, it wasn’t my new 2011 bike, although it was the bike that I had used for the Valencia test.
“There were some things Honda wanted to try and improve, so I think getting Jonathan Rea there was a really great idea.
“For him I think it was a great experience to try MotoGP and also for Honda, to understand his potential for the future, in MotoGP and Superbikes.
“From what I understand they had quite a successful test.”
