Casey Stoner announces retirement at end of the 2012 season

The two time MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner made the shocking declaration before the media during the official pre-event press meet at the Monster Energy Grand Prix de France. The confirmation comes just within two weeks of Stoner denying any retirement plans when some Spanish media broke the news. Stoner’s decision has certainly shocked the fans and followers of the sport, but it has also thrown light onto the slack in the sport, which the Australian rider said was the one of the chief reasons for him to lose passion to race which fuelled his decision to retire from MotoGP by the end of the 2012 season.

The announcement came during the press conference where Stoner told the gathered media persons, “After a long time thinking, a lot of time talking with my family and my wife, this has been coming for a couple of years now but at the end of this 2012 season I will be not racing in the 2013 Championship. I will be finishing my career at the end of this season in MotoGP, and go forward in different things in my life,” Stoner told the assembled press.

“After so many years of doing this sport which I love, and which myself and my family made so many sacrifices for, after so many years of trying to get to where we have gotten to at this point, this sport has changed a lot and it has changed to the point where I am not enjoying it. I don't have the passion for it and so at this time it's better if I retire now.

“There are a lot of things that have disappointed me, and also a lot of things I have loved about this sport, but unfortunately the balance has gone in the wrong direction. And so, basically, we won't be continuing any more. It would be nice if I could say I would stay one more year, but then where does it stop? So we decided to finish everything as we are now.”