Sheer courage is the only pathway to victory at MotoGP’s most feared circuit, Phillip Island, according to former world champion Nicky Hayden.

The sport’s elite riders are already turning their attention to next month’s Australian Grand Prix at the scenic, but deceptively dangerous Island track, recognised as the world’s most challenging.

Hayden, who holds the lap record at Phillip Island, and former seven-times world champion, Italian Valentino Rossi, are preparing for a layout they describe as the most popular on the tour.

But the American 2006 titleholder says it will take more than pure talent to taste success from October 18-20.

“It has everything you want as a rider (but) you need a whole lot of guts to ride it,” Hayden said.

“The racing is normally pretty good because the riders stick together and the slipstreaming is really important.

“I grew up watching races there and now I get to ride there, so that’s a pretty sweet part of my job. It’s one of the better tracks we go to, if not the best of all.”

Rossi, who has triumphed five times at the Island from 2000-05, describes the coastal circuit as “more or less a favourite of all the riders.

“It is something special compared to the others,” Rossi said. “It’s very fast and it’s always a great feeling to ride a motorbike there.”

Australian dual world titleholder Casey Stoner has won the past six races at Phillip Island but retired from the sport at the end of last year.

He has made a tentative entry into V8 Supercars but has already been called up by the Honda factory team to test several times in Japan this year, fuelling rumours he may return to MotoGP.

Spain’s Jorge Lorenzo, who finished behind Stoner last year to seal his second world crown, said the super-fast sweeping corners and main straight where bikes are buffeted by crosswinds at more than 330km/h, provided a test like no other track.

“It is a very special track … when you go into the first corner and do a lap you realise how different it is,” Lorenzo said. “It’s really narrow, really fast and the landscape is wonderful.”

Spanish prodigy Marc Marquez has a solid lead in the championship in his debut year aboard a Honda and won the 125cc class at the Island in 2010 – however he is anxious to test an elite MotoGP machine there.

“When you have the best set-up and you are fast you enjoy it a lot,” said Marquez, who also sealed the Moto2 world championship in Australia last season.