Ciabatti: ‘Stoner will be with us in Valencia’, coaching role going forward?

Casey Stoner will once again be involved with Ducati during this weekend’s Valencia MotoGP, which begs the question, could a coaching role be forthcoming? 

Stoner made his first appearance in the MotoGP paddock since 2018 during last weekend’s AlgarveGP, as he took time to help out in coaching role for Ducati riders Francesco Bagnaia and Jack Miller. 

While Stoner wasn’t there solely as a rider coach, the Australian did receive high praise from its riders as both Bagnaia and Miller said it would be great to have him as a rider coach.

Ducati Corse Sporting Director, Paolo Ciabatti doubled-down on this, however, it seems unlikely it will become anything more than an occasional role due to Stoner having a family back in Australia.

Ciabatti added: "There has been a lot of talk about Casey [Stoner]. He has helped our riders with some analysis, especially yesterday (Saturday) when it was a bit windy - he gave some good suggestions. 

"It’s always good to have a champion and a friend like Casey in the garage, while the credit goes to Pecco [Bagnaia] and Jack [Miller] for their talents.”

"We would love it as well (Stoner to become a coach), but I don’t think it’s in Casey’s plan to move to Europe; as you know he has a family, two young daughters and that’s his priority.

"I do think he enjoys coming back to the paddock after such a long time and he will be with us in Valencia. Hopefully this also brings good luck to our team in Valencia." 

Speaking after Saturday’s qualifying session, Miller spoke at length about having his compatriot there, while also alluding to what makes his presence so special. 

Miller said: "Casey’s very methodical with how he explains things and is very precise. That’s definitely a good way of putting it across; he gets his point across but it’s in no way shape or form rude or anything like that. 

"He knows what he’s talking about, he’s a rider and he also understands; for example when you get a line that maybe you feel is fast but the track is developing to a different point; you as a rider can sometimes get tunnel vision which he can understand. 

"Then he helped us to understand what the others were doing. So it was great."

Not only will Stoner be back in Ducati’s garage for this weekend’s season finale, but UK viewers will get to see him live on-air as part of BT Sport’s coverage as well.