Casey Stoner and Valentino Rossi race together again at VR46 Ranch
Double MotoGP world champion rode with Rossi at his VR46 ranch
Casey Stoner’s rivalry with Valentino Rossi appears to be finally cooling off after the pair rode together at the VR46 Ranch last weekend.
Double MotoGP world champion Stoner and nine-time world champion Rossi engaged in a hard-fought rivalry during their racing days in the late 2000s and early 2010s.
Their rivalry came to a head at the 2011 Spanish GP, when Rossi crashed into Stoner - leading the latter to his now infamous ‘your ambition outweighs your talent’ remark to the veteran Italian.
In January, Stoner highlighted that incident and Rossi’s attempt at an apology afterwards as a moment where he lost respect for him.
Stoner added in an interview with Moto.it: “When Vale arrived at Ducati this was also difficult to watch because I knew the pressure they were under and they didn’t deserve it.
“They were doing a great job and we did a lot of work with the budget we had, which was very small.
“Unfortunately, between Valentino and his engineer Jeremy Burgess, they spoke very negatively about me and my team.
“They basically said we know nothing and that they would fix the bike very quickly. I take a lot of offence to that because of my team.
“We were still challenging for the title with the budget we had, which is more than they can say with a bigger budget.”
But the pair now look to be putting the past behind them, as Rossi invited Stoner to ride at his ranch in Tavullia last weekend.
With Stoner at EICMA - the world's largest motorcycle trade show - in Milan, Rossi invited the 2007 and 2011 MotoGP champion to his ranch to ride together on his famous dirt track.
A brief social media post from Stoner also showed the pair having dinner together.
Stoner wrote: “A lot has changed between Vale and myself over the last 12 years; family, friends.
“But the passion for bikes will always be the same. Thanks for the opportunity to share a track with you once again!”
Rossi recently announced his annual 100km of Champions event at his ranch will take place on 10-11 January, which will feature the usual roster from his VR46 Academy as well as other stars from the motorcycle racing world.
