Retiring Stoner dominates French practice

World champion Casey Stoner on Friday dominated the first and second practice sessions for the French Moto GP at Le Mans, after his shock announcement that he will quit the sport. The 26-year-old Australian, who said on Thursday that he will bow out at the end of the season for personal reasons, led the pack with a combined time of 1min 33.740sec on his Honda. Spain's Dani Pedrosa, also on a Honda, was in second and compatriot Jorge Lorenzo on a Yamaha in third. Stoner has won 35 MotoGP races in his career and leads the current standings by a point after winning two of the season's three events ahead of Sunday's race. "After yesterday's announcement, I definitely felt a weight off my shoulders when I got on the bike this morning," admitted two-time world champion Stoner. "The last two races I've had a lot of thoughts running through my mind and this weekend I already feel better knowing it's off my chest and we can now focus on the rest of the season, and try to enjoy it." Stoner admitted on Thursday that he had lost his passion for the sport while also becoming increasingly frustrated at technical changes in the championship. "I made my decision this early in the season out of respect for Honda. If I had waited until the last race I could have left a lot of people embarrassed," he said. "I tried to keep things secret, but this wasn't possible as things started to leak out. It was a decision mulled over for a long time, for the past few years, to be honest. "But I made my definitive decision on Sunday night and then telling my wife Adriana was the priority, of course." Nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi was down in ninth place on Friday on his struggling Ducati, 1.372sec behind Stoner. The Italian, currently in the worst slump of his 17-year career, and still without a point this season, faced more questions again over his future on Friday. But the 33-year-old repeated that he has no intention of making a similar announcement to Stoner. "Never in my career have I considered stopping," said Rossi. "I think that every rider has his own different character, each has his reasons to keep racing. I love the sport and the life it has given me." Rossi insisted he will know when it's time to quit. "I will finish when I no longer have the taste for racing, if it becomes more of a job and if my physical condition no longer allows me to do it. Then that will be a good time."