Rain limits Stoner MotoGP return

For yesterday's (Tuesday, August 6) session, the plan was for the two-time world champ to re-familiarise himself with the 2013-specification RC213V before continuing development with the 2014 prototype, as well as with several other test items. Unfortunately, the weather worked against the team.

"It was good to get back on the bike, if only for a few laps!" Stoner commented. "We only managed to get one run in before the rain arrived, which was a little disappointing.

"It was really nice to get that first run; it's been nine months since I've been on a bike and it's going to take me some time to get used to everything again! The bike and the track felt good and I hope that we can get some better testing in tomorrow with some dry track time and run some more laps."

Yamaha and Suzuki were also in attendance at Motegi on Tuesday, while almost 9,000 kilometres away Yamaha Factory Racing riders Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi conducted a test session of their own at Brno in the Czech Republic.

Images: motogp.com