MotoGP
Confirmation comes through that two-times MotoGP World Champion will race in development series.
Casey Stoner will race in all seven rounds of the 2013 Dunlop V8 Supercar Series, after confirmation finally came of the two-times MotoGP World Champion's switch from two wheels to four.
The Australian's move into V8s has been one of the worst-kept secrets in motorsport since his retirement from MotoGP at the end of 2012, but after media in his homeland jumped the gun last week by reporting a deal with Red Bull Racing Australia Pirtek Holden Stoner and his new team have now made the news official.
“Very happy to have a chance to race with @redbullracingAU in the Dunlop Series this year,” Tweeted Stoner. “Looking forward getting on track at Clipsal!”
A press release from Red Bull Racing Australia revealed that Stoner will drive the entire Dunlop Series in Craig Lowndes' 2010 Bathurst-winning VE Commodore. It also said that “only contractual discussions prevented an earlier announcement” after Stoner was last week forced to state that nothing had at that stage been confirmed.
Stoner had previously tested a Holden Commodore V8 Supercardriven by four-times champion Jamie Whincup, and will now have two more test days in the machine he'll drive in 2013 before racing in the opening round of the Dunlop Series at Adelaide's Clipsal 500 next month.
Stoner was quoted in an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, talking about his new adventure.
“It is a trial year to see how I go and how I like the sport,” Stoner said. “We are definitely making a commitment to it, but at the same time we don't want to go too deep in case it is not for us.
“I was going to do 75 per cent of the races, but I have decided to do them all.
“I want to get as much time in the seat as I can and try to understand what it is like to drive a V8.”
Stoner will race with the same number 27 he ran in MotoGP.
