When Casey Stoner had to pull out of the Brno GP weekend to return to Australia and undergo ankle surgery, the big question was who would Honda get to replace the injured rider.
Several names popped up like Stefan Bradl and Alvaro Bautista, but they were almost immediately ruled out because it would have caused sponsor problems to their respective teams.
Jonathan Rea’s name was also thrown in as a possible substitute, but yesterday during MotoGPs qualifying session Repsol Honda’s Livio Suppo said that in all probablity that they would replace the absent Stoner with a test rider.
Instead yesterday evening Rea’s name come up insistently on Twitter and following today’s World Superbikes double header, HRC officially announced that Rea will be riding the RC212V and will be getting his debut tomorrow at Brno and at Aragon, where the Repsol Honda team will carry out a two day test session.
Jonathan Rea, Ten Kate Honda rider in WSBK, will join the Repsol Honda team for tomorrow’s test in Brno, and also for the two day test in Aragon that will take place on the 4th and 5th of September.
“In case, as doctors anticipate, Casey Stoner is not able to re-join the Repsol Honda Team in time, then Jonathan will replace him in Misano and Aragon.
”Rea has been Honda favourite for several years and he is even tipped to get a full time ride with Gresini Honda next season, after being part of the Honda team that won this year’s Suzuka 8 Hours, and Honda even gifted him a with a two day test on the 800cc prototype at Sepang at the end of 2010.
Check out the above video to hear what Rea had to say regarding the opportunity, after a disappointing DNF in race 1 and a 7th place in race 2 at the Moscow Raceway and the Honda is currently fifth in the standings with 2 wins (Assen and Donington) and 2 second place podiums (Misano and Miller).