Honda didn’t allow Casey Stoner’s ‘wildcard’ in 2013: ‘He could have f**k Marc

For the 2013 season, the Repsol Honda Team featured Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa. Honda’s initial intention was to renew the contract with Casey Stoner, but the australian rejected the possibility of continuing with the japanese manufacturer and ended up announcing his departure from the championship in 2012.

However, at some point in the 2013 season, the idea came up of Stoner making a wildcard appearance at the Australian GP. According to Oscar Haro – who was Sporting Director at LCR Honda – the idea of ​​the australian racing in his home round for the team that brought him to MotoGP came after Stefan Bradl was injured in Malaysia.

‘Unfortunately, Stefan Bradl fractured his tibia and fibula, broke his leg. So I say to [Lucio] Cecchinello [LCR founder]: «We have an empty bike and the next race is in Australia. Tell Livio Suppo [who was at Honda at the time] that we take Stoner with us, and so we have Marquez at Repsol [Honda Team] and Stoner with us»’, said Haro in conversation with Nico Abad on his Twitch channel, and quoted by todocircuito.com.

The idea didn’t go ahead because, according to Haro, it was feared that Stoner’s speed could harm Marc Marquez’s real chances of being champion in his rookie season:

– Livio looked at me and said that Stoner was going to be on fire and that we could f**k Marquez world championship, because Marc could proclaim himself champion there. It was a shame because I would have loved to have Stoner with us. I offered Honda the chance, I said to Lucio: «Come on, let’s put him in here, because it would be great»; This is because I believe that one of the regrets that Casey Stoner has is the fact that he didn’t race against Marc Marquez, for sure.

Casey Stoner competed in MotoGP between the 2006 and 2012 seasons, inclusive. The australian made his debut in the main category through the LCR structure, but the following year he made the leap to Ducati and won his first title. He moved to Honda in 2011 and that year was champion again, 2012 being his last year to compete at the highest level. With his departure, the Repsol Honda Team remained with Dani Pedrosa and welcomed Marc Marquez when the original idea was to have Márquez ride alongside Stoner.