Stoner envies relaxed V8 paddock
MotoGP world champion Casey Stoner took part in the Sydney 500 race in his native Australia this weekend and said he thoroughly enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere in comparison to the competitive pace of MotoGP.
"V8s in general, everyone's a little bit more relaxed towards each other," Stoner said.
"In our class overseas with a lot of European riders there's a lot more jealousy, all kinds of stuff. All the riders hate each other and they think they need to hate each other to beat each other.
"Around here you can still be mates and race. As long as you drive fair and square and give a hard race, there's no reason you can't be friends.
"That's something that's pretty refreshing about this paddock."
Looking ahead to the new MotoGP season, the 26-year-old insists he is firmly focused on retaining the title he won in 2011.
"We earned what we got (in 2011). Working with Honda, everything's been fantastic and it was great to come away with another championship and finally put ourselves at the front again which we though we had a very good chance to be," he added.
Being the defending champion, Stoner admitted he does feel a bit more pressure going into the 2012 campaign as competitors will look at him as the man to beat.
"Every season's a new season. People look too much at 'you did it last year, you've got to do it again this year'."
"As a new season I think you've just got to try and do it, not necessarily again, just try and get it done.
"That's the way we're going to be looking at it."