Yamaha had all but signed Casey Stoner for MotoGP, but at the last minute opted to cancel the deal, leaving the then rider without a definitive option for his future.
And it was precisely this episode that triggered an Australian desire.
In another episode of the Ducati Diaries podcast, Stoner recalled that same experience with the Japanese manufacturer: ‘I had practically signed with Yamaha, but for two years in a row they pulled the plug on us at the last moment. Basically, I didn’t have a team for the following season’ he began to say.
And that’s precisely why the #27 then had what he considers to be ‘extra motivation’, to prove to the manufacturer that it had been a mistake, after Ducati had “come forward” to count on his services: ‘I felt very privileged to have the opportunity to race with a factory team. But I also had an extra motivation: to show Yamaha that they had made a mistake by withdrawing that contract’.
In the end, Stoner would go on to win the world championship with the Borgo Panigale manufacturer in 2007, and then later with another Japanese team, Honda.