Jorge Lorenzo

This name uses Spanish naming customs; the first or paternal family name is Lorenzo and the second or maternal family name is Guerrero.

Jorge Lorenzo
Lorenzo at the 2010 Indianapolis Grand Prix
Nationality	Spanish
Born	May 4, 1987 (1987-05-04) Palma, Spain
Current team	Yamaha Factory Racing
Bike number	1
Website	jorgelorenzo.com
Motorcycle racing career statistics MotoGP World Championship Active years 2008–present Manufacturers Yamaha Championships 1 (2010) 2011 Championship position 2nd (260 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 67 17 44 18 11 1094 250cc World Championship Active years 2005–2007 Manufacturers Honda (2005) Aprilia (2006–2007) Championships 2 (2006, 2007) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 48 17 29 23 4 768 125cc World Championship Active years 2002–2004 Manufacturers Derbi Championships 0 Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 46 4 9 3 3 279

Jorge Lorenzo Guerrero (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈxoɾxe loˈɾenθo ɣeˈreɾo]; born May 4, 1987 in Palma, Balearic Islands, Spain), is a Spanish professional motorcycle road racer. He is the 2006 and 2007 250cc World Champion, and the 2010 MotoGP World Champion. He is currently a rider in the MotoGP Class, on the Yamaha Factory Team.

125s and 250s

Lorenzo made his championship debut on his fifteenth birthday, on the second qualifying day for the 2002 125cc Spanish Grand Prix, after having to miss Friday practice as he was not old enough to race. Lorenzo dominated the 2007 250cc World Championship. His nine pole positions led to nine victories in 2007, and all his 2006 poles bar Motegi led to victories in 2006.

Jorge's victory at Misano in 2007 was his 16th in the 250cc class, making him the most successful Spanish rider of all time in the 250cc GP class – with one more victory than Dani Pedrosa and Sito Pons.

MotoGP

After being linked with a Yamaha MotoGP ride for 2008, on 25 July 2007 he was confirmed as Valentino Rossi's partner on a two year deal for the 2008 MotoGP season.

2008

Lorenzo made a great start to his MotoGP career, finishing 2nd after qualifying on pole for the Qatar night race. He followed this up with pole at the second round in Jerez, Spain and 3rd Position, and pole in round 3 at Estoril, Portugal. He converted this pole into a victory, his maiden win in the Premier Class. In doing so, he became the youngest rider in MotoGP to finish on the podium in his first three races, taking the record from compatriot (and bitter rival) Dani Pedrosa by a single day.

Jorge Lorenzo's major highside crash at the 2008 Chinese Grand Prix.

By this stage of the Championship, Lorenzo was in joint first place with Pedrosa, but on May 1, 2008 Lorenzo was thrown from his bike during practice for the MotoGP Grand Prix of China. Lorenzo suffered a chipped bone and snapped ligament in his left ankle, and a fractured bone in his right. He was still able to finish the race in 4th place. Two weeks later at Le Mans, Lorenzo suffered two accidents in the practice sessions but managed to post a 2nd place result. In the following race in Italy he crashed during the race after qualifying seventh on the grid, The next week at Catalunya he experienced his fifth crash in four meetings, the practice session accident forcing him to miss the race.

Another major crash for Lorenzo at the 2008 United States Grand Prix.

At both Donington Park and Assen, he was observed to be riding more conservatively after a series of injuries, but moved up the order in the later part of the race to finish 6th in each case. He has commented that he is stronger in the latter parts of races, preferring the bike when it is low on fuel. In the next meeting at Sachsenring, however, Lorenzo crashed out of the race during very wet conditions. Lorenzo suffered yet more injuries to his feet at the USGP at Laguna Seca on July 20, when he experienced his seventh crash in only three months. During the first lap a spectacular highside left Lorenzo with a sore right foot (or ankle) and three broken bones in his left foot, specifically the third, fourth and fifth metatarsals. At Misano, Lorenzo clinched 2nd place. Indianapolis saw him on the podium again this time in third position. He eventually finished the season in 4th position.

2009

In 2009, Lorenzo stayed with Yamaha. His season started badly, with one win out of five races: in Japan.

As a consequence of a crash in qualifying at the Laguna Seca round, Lorenzo suffered a small fracture in the head of the fourth metatarsal in his right foot, contusions to the bones in both ankles and damage to his collarbone in his right shoulder. Two crashes later in the season, during the rain hit British Grand Prix and at Brno hampered his title bid, as he was 50 points behind championship leader Valentino Rossi prompting Lorenzo to claim his chances of winning the title have gone. He won at Indianapolis, while both Rossi and Pedrosa crashed, reducing Lorenzo's gap to Rossi to 25 points. His first corner crash with Nicky Hayden in Australia was a blow to his title chances and Rossi clinched the title with a third place finish in Malaysia.

2010

On 25 August 2009, Lorenzo ended speculation surrounding a possible move to Honda or Ducati by signing a contract to race with Yamaha in the 2010 MotoGP Championship. Ducati reputedly offered him a 15 million dollar contract to take Nicky Hayden's position.

Lorenzo (#99) chases team-mate Valentino Rossi at the 2010 French Grand Prix.

Lorenzo broke two bones in his hand in a pocket bike crash pre-season, therefore missing most of the pre-season testing. He fought through the field to finish second to Rossi in the season opener in Qatar, whilst still not fully fit. After Rossi broke his leg in a crash at Mugello, Lorenzo became the title favourite, with a 47-point lead after four wins in the first six rounds. Victory at Assen made him only the seventh rider ever to win in 3 classes at this prestigious circuit.

During a break between the Italian and British rounds of the championship, Lorenzo rode a Yamaha in a parade lap around the world famous Snaefell Mountain Course at the Isle of Man TT. He rode alongside former World Champion Ángel Nieto, later describing the experience as 'amazing'.

Despite nearest rival Dani Pedrosa making up ground in the latter stage of the season, Lorenzo was still in control with five races remaining. Pedrosa, the only man who could still overtake Lorenzo in the standings, then suffered a broken collarbone during practice, causing him to miss the next two races and virtually guaranteeing Lorenzo would become champion. On 10 October, Lorenzo clinched the title with a third place finish at the Malaysian Grand Prix behind Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso.

Celebrations

Lorenzo has become known for his celebration antics, which have become more frequent over the 2010 season. These have included Lorenzo imitating a spaceman, and Nintendo's mario brothers making an appearance at the trackside.

Other

In January 2010, Lorenzo got involved with the Oxfam international confederation's efforts in assisting support for the victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

The character Jorge in the video game Halo: Reach is named for him, after Lorenzo wore a helmet at the 2009 Valencian Grand Prix that replicated a style of helmet from Halo 3.

Finger Injury

At the Philip Island, Australian round of MotoGP in 2011 Lorenzo lost the end of his finger in a morning warm-up crash. His absence from the race helped Casey Stoner to wrap up the 2011 world title in front of his home fans. Lorenzo underwent successful surgery in Melbourne to repair damage to his finger, with the surgeon able to save the nerves and tendons of the injured fourth finger (left hand). Surgery was deemed a success and as a result no functionality was lost in either the finger or the hand.

Rivalry

During his reign as 250cc champion, Lorenzo was known to be very aggressive in his riding, particlularly when overtaking others. He was penalised by suspending him from taking part in Malaysia in 2005. Lorenzo's tenure in the Fiat Yamaha team has been underscored by an intense rivalry between himself and his team mate Valentino Rossi. This rivalry resulted in the Fiat Yamaha team being divided. In an interview after signing with Ducati, Rossi said that "the wall" between him and Lorenzo never existed when the team was around, as his skills and set-up details were passed on to Lorenzo. Lorenzo has stated in many interviews that he does not quite know how the bike works, and he is working towards enhancing his knowledge in order to boost his analytical skills.

In 2011, Lorenzo was seen arguing with fellow rider Marco Simoncelli, who was under fire from Lorenzo for his dangerous riding. Simoncelli retorted by reminding Lorenzo of his race suspension after he was overly aggressive while overtaking a rider in 2005, which included clashing of fairings. Lorenzo said, "if it doesn't come from you again there will be no problem". Simoncelli put even more fuel to the fire by saying "I will be arrested", to which a visibly angry Lorenzo reacted by saying, "this is no joke, we are playing with our lives here". Simoncelli claimed that he still has his leathers which were left blackened at the knee slider after a previous incident with Lorenzo at the final round of the 2010 season. At the Malaysian Grand Prix, a race Lorenzo missed due to injury, Simoncelli was killed in a second lap crash.

Grand Prix career statistics

By season

Season	Class	Motorcycle	Team	Race	Win	Podium	Pole	FLap	Pts	Plcd
2002	125cc	Derbi RS 125		14	0	0	0	0	21	21st
2003	125cc	Derbi RS 125		16	1	2	1	1	79	12th
2004	125cc	Derbi RSA 125		16	3	7	2	2	179	4th
2005	250cc	Honda RS250RW	Fortuna Lotus Honda	15	0	6	4	0	167	5th
2006	250cc	Aprilia RSW 250	Fortuna Lotus Aprilia	16	8	11	10	1	289	1st
2007	250cc	Aprilia RSW 250	Fortuna Lotus Aprilia	17	9	12	9	3	312	1st
2008	MotoGP	Yamaha YZR-M1	Yamaha-YMR	17	1	6	4	1	190	4th
2009	MotoGP	Yamaha YZR-M1	Yamaha-YMR	17	4	12	5	4	261	2nd
2010	MotoGP	Yamaha YZR-M1	Yamaha-YMR	18	9	16	7	4	383	1st
2011	MotoGP	Yamaha YZR-M1	Yamaha-YMR	15	3	10	2	2	260	2nd
Total				161	38	82	44	18	2141

By class

Class	Seas	1st GP	1st Pod	1st Win	Race	Win	Podiums	Pole	FLap	Pts	WChmp
125 cc	2002–2004	2002 Spain	2003 Brazil	2003 Brazil	46	4	9	3	3	279	0
250 cc	2005–2007	2005 Spain	2005 Italy	2006 Spain	48	17	29	23	4	768	2
MotoGP	2008–Present	2008 Qatar	2008 Qatar	2008 Portugal	67	17	44	18	11	1094	1
Total	2002–Present				161	38	82	44	18	2141	3

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Class	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Pos	Pts
2002	125 cc	Derbi	JPN	RSA	SPA 22	FRA 19	ITA 20	CAT 14	NED 16	GBR 13	GER 17	CZE 20	POR Ret	BRA 7	PAC 9	MAL 20	AUS Ret	VAL 22			21st	21
2003	125 cc	Derbi	JPN Ret	RSA 24	SPA 15	FRA Ret	ITA Ret	CAT 6	NED Ret	GBR Ret	GER 21	CZE 12	POR 6	BRA 1	PAC Ret	MAL 3	AUS 8	VAL 11			12th	79
2004	125 cc	Derbi	RSA 16	SPA Ret	FRA 3	ITA 10	CAT 5	NED 1	BRA Ret	GER 6	GBR 3	CZE 1	POR 3	JPN 7	QAT 1	MAL Ret	AUS 2	VAL Ret			4th	179
2005	250 cc	Honda	SPA 6	POR 10	CHN 9	FRA 5	ITA 2	CAT Ret	NED 3	GBR 8	GER Ret	CZE 2	JPN Ret	MAL EX	QAT 2	AUS 3	TUR 4	VAL 2			5th	167
2006	250 cc	Aprilia	SPA 1	QAT 1	TUR Ret	CHN 4	FRA Ret	ITA 1	CAT 2	NED 1	GBR 1	GER 3	CZE 1	MAL 1	AUS 1	JPN 3	POR 5	VAL 4			1st	289
2007	250 cc	Aprilia	QAT 1	SPA 1	TUR 2	CHN 1	FRA 1	ITA 8	CAT 1	GBR Ret	NED 1	GER 4	CZE 1	RSM 1	POR 3	JPN 11	AUS 1	MAL 3	VAL 7		1st	312
2008	MotoGP	Yamaha	QAT 2	SPA 3	POR 1	CHN 4	FRA 2	ITA Ret	CAT	GBR 6	NED 6	GER Ret	USA Ret	CZE 10	RSM 2	IND 3	JPN 4	AUS 4	MAL Ret	VAL 8	4th	190
2009	MotoGP	Yamaha	QAT 3	JPN 1	SPA Ret	FRA 1	ITA 2	CAT 2	NED 2	USA 3	GER 2	GBR Ret	CZE Ret	IND 1	RSM 2	POR 1	AUS Ret	MAL 4	VAL 3		2nd	261
2010	MotoGP	Yamaha	QAT 2	SPA 1	FRA 1	ITA 2	GBR 1	NED 1	CAT 1	GER 2	USA 1	CZE 1	IND 3	RSM 2	ARA 4	JPN 4	MAL 3	AUS 2	POR 1	VAL 1	1st	383
2011	MotoGP	Yamaha	QAT 2	SPA 1	POR 2	FRA 4	CAT 2	GBR Ret	NED 6	ITA 1	GER 2	USA 2	CZE 4	IND 4	RSM 1	ARA 3	JPN 2	AUS DNS	MAL	VAL	2nd	260

External links

• lorenzo99.com – Official website

Preceded by Dani Pedrosa	250 cc Motorcycle World Champion 2006–2007	Succeeded by Marco Simoncelli
Preceded by Valentino Rossi	MotoGP Motorcycle World Champion 2010	Succeeded by Casey Stoner