We have to be honest, when we published our article “ Ultimately, doesn't Stoner risk putting the "casino" at Ducati?“We didn't think we'd be caught up with the news so quickly.
However, this one has just done it since, apparently, by scheduling a private test for the Australian rider on March 6 and 7 in Qatar, Ducati had simply forgotten article 1.15.1 of the regulations which stipulates that any rider under contract is prohibited from carrying out tests on a circuit on which a race will take place, during the 14 days preceding the event. This seems big, of course, but it seems so.
Apparently, this is a big hiccup for the Reds, who had nevertheless invested a lot of money to make these sessions possible (circuit rental, logistics, etc.) for their media pilot.
As these private and special tests obviously had the motivation to be able to have Casey Stoner ride without disturbing the official riders, while concentrating on the latter all the resources of the Ducati MotoGP team during the tests which are currently taking place at Losail, and in particular the D16GP, some will not hesitate to think that the luxury test pilot of the Italian firm is starting, directly or indirectly, to make simple things quite complicated for the reds...
Now, looking at the calendar and the date of the Grand Prix (which will take place on March 20), the only solution would seem to bring forward Casey Stoner's tests to March 5 and 6 (Ducati rented the circuit from Friday to Monday), provided that we do not consider the Thursday, Friday and Saturday preceding the race as part of the Grand Prix. Which is nevertheless the case.
Suffice to say that there is very little chance that Casey Stoner will be able to train at Losail before the Grand Prix, especially since, according to GPone, Yamaha would have been refused a session scheduled for March 8 and 9 at the same circuit with Colin Edwards. Unless the Race Direction takes an exceptional measure…
