Stoner may consider V8 Supercar series in the future after retiring from MotoGP

The 26-year-old Australian confirmed in a press conference at Le Mans on Thursday that the 2012 season will be his last in MotoGP after two titles with Ducati and Honda.

Stoner said he had lost his passion for MotoGP and admitted he will consider a future in V8 Supercars, but not right away.

"It is something I am definitely interested to do in the future, but whether I will be fast enough or not is another thing," said Stoner.

"That will be not in the near future, the immediate future. There are many things that I would like to do with my life, and to be honest I don't want to keep racing bikes to the point where I lose completely my passion.

"I don't want to finish racing and then not want to ride a bike for the next five or 10 years, I love bikes, it has been my whole life and if I keep doing it I am afraid I will lose completely my passion for it and not want to go near a bike for the next 10 years and that would scare me, for many, many reasons."

Stoner denied, however, that racing in the Supercar series had anything to do with his decision to retire from the world championship.

The Australian impressed when he drove Triple Eight's Holden V8 Supercar in a test in December last year.

"It is by no means any reason for my decision," he said. "This has been coming for a long time, it is not something that has just happened.

"I have tested the V8 car, and that is something we have been trying to do for the last two or three years, to be honest, and finally it happened. So there is no coincidence to it whatsoever.

"Also the birth of my little girl had nothing to do with this. It had a small part in making the decision easier but by no means is it the reason why I made this decision."