Red Bull Indianapolis GP fans can see one of the final races of the illustrious motorcycle racing career of two-time MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner on Aug. 17-19 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as Stoner announced May 17 that he will retire after the 2012 season.

Stoner, 26, from Australia, is the reigning World Champion with the Repsol Honda Team. He also won the championship in 2007 with the Ducati Team and is one of only five riders to win titles with different manufacturers since the World Championship started in 1949. “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,” Stoner said. “I will be finishing my career at the end of this season in MotoGP and go forward in different things in my life.

“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.”

Stoner won the 2011 Red Bull Indianapolis GP at IMS en route to the championship. He leads the 2012 World Championship by one point over 2010 World Champion Jorge Lorenzo, 66-65, entering the Grand Prix of France this weekend at Le Mans. Stoner has won 35 races since his premier class debut in 2006.