Jorge Lorenzo

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.[4] His nine pole positions led to nine victories in 2007.

Lorenzo's victory at Misano in 2007 was his 16th in the 250cc class,[5] making him the most successful Spanish rider of all time in the intermediate class – with one more victory than Dani Pedrosa and Sito Pons.

After being linked with a Yamaha MotoGP ride for 2008,[6] on 25 July 2007 he was confirmed as Valentino Rossi's partner on a two-year deal for the 2008 MotoGP season.[7][8]

Lorenzo during pre-season testing at Jerez

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,[9] taking the record from compatriot and rival[10] Dani Pedrosa by a single day.

By this stage of the Championship, Lorenzo was in joint first place with Pedrosa, but on 1 May 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.[11] 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.[12] In the following race at Mugello, he crashed during the race after qualifying seventh on the grid,[13] The next week in Barcelona, he experienced his fifth crash in four meetings, the practice session accident forcing him to miss the race.

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.[14] Lorenzo suffered yet more injuries to his feet at the USGP at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on 20 July, 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.

Lorenzo at the 2009 Indianapolis Grand Prix

In 2009, Lorenzo stayed with Yamaha. His season started well, with two wins – at Motegi[15] and Le Mans[16] – and two more podiums out of five races, leading the championship up until that point after which Valentino Rossi stole the momentum from him in the Catalan Grand Prix.

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.[17] Two crashes later in the season, during the rain hit British Grand Prix[18] 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.[19] He won at Indianapolis, while both Rossi and Pedrosa crashed, reducing Lorenzo's gap to Rossi to 25 points.[20][21] His first corner crash with Nicky Hayden in Australia[22] was a blow to his title chances and Rossi clinched the title with a third-place finish in Malaysia.

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.[23] Ducati reputedly offered him a $15 million contract to take the seat vacated by Marco Melandri which was eventually taken by Nicky Hayden.

Lorenzo at the 2010 British 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.[24] 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.[25]

Despite nearest rival Dani Pedrosa making up ground in the latter stages 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 Sepang behind Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso.[26]

Lorenzo at the 2011 Portuguese Grand Prix

Lorenzo started the 2011 season with four podium finishes in the first five races, including a victory at the Spanish Grand Prix; he was benefitted from a collision between Casey Stoner and Valentino Rossi, with both riders coming off their bikes, and Lorenzo eventually won the race by almost twenty seconds.[27] He held the championship lead into the British Grand Prix, where he crashed out of the race, held in wet conditions, while running third.[28] After a sixth-place finish at Assen, Lorenzo then finished each of the next eight races in the top four placings, winning two of them, at Mugello,[29] and Misano.[30]

Lorenzo's season was ended by a crash during warm-up for the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island. Lorenzo lost the end of a finger, and underwent successful surgery in Melbourne to repair damage to it, with surgeons able to save the nerves and tendons of the injured fourth finger of his left hand. Surgery was deemed a success and as a result no functionality was lost in either the finger or the hand. Stoner won the championship at the event after winning the race, while Lorenzo maintained second place to the end of the championship,[31] helped in part by the cancellation of the Malaysian Grand Prix after the death of Marco Simoncelli.

Lorenzo made his race return in Qatar, qualifying on pole position before taking the race victory the following evening.[32] After successive second places at Jerez and Estoril,[33] Lorenzo then won the next two races at Le Mans,[34] and Cataluña; in the process, opening up a 20-point lead over Casey Stoner in the riders' championship.[35]

Ahead of the British Grand Prix, Lorenzo signed a new two-year contract with Yamaha, keeping him with the team until the end of the 2014 season.[36][37] Lorenzo extended his championship lead to 25 points, by winning the race ahead of Stoner.[38] After being taken out of the Dutch TT by Álvaro Bautista[39] and a second place at the Sachsenring, Lorenzo recorded his fifth win of the season at Mugello to extend his championship lead to 19 over Dani Pedrosa.[40] Lorenzo ultimately clinched his 2nd title at Phillip Island by finishing 2nd behind race winner Casey Stoner (which was also helped by Stoner's crash and ankle injury in Indianapolis which forced him out for 3 races).[41]

Lorenzo started the season as the defending World Champion and battled it out with Repsol Honda teammates Marc Márquez and Dani Pedrosa for the championship. He won races at Losail,[42] Mugello,[43] Misano,[44] Catalunya,[45] and Silverstone[46] but missed the race at the Sachsenring due to injury,[47] and finished second in the final championship standings, with 330 points, 4 points behind Márquez.[48]

Lorenzo at the 2014 French Grand Prix

Lorenzo started the 2014 season slowly, crashing out in Qatar[49] and a tenth-place finish in Austin, having jumped the start.[50] He achieved his first podium of the season in Argentina,[51] but only achieved one further podium – at Mugello,[52] – in the next five races. At the midway point of the season, at the Sanchsenring,[53] Lorenzo had only collected 97 points; this tally was 128 behind championship leader Marc Márquez. Starting the second half of the season, Lorenzo achieved four consecutive second-place finishes at Indianapolis, Brno,[54] Silverstone[55] and Misano.[56]

His first victory of the season came during a wet race at Aragon, his first win at the circuit.[57] Lorenzo followed that victory up with a victory in the next race at Motegi,[58] having also won at the circuit in 2009 and 2013.[59] For the majority of the season, Lorenzo was involved in a three-way rivalry with teammate Rossi and Dani Pedrosa to claim the runner-up position overall. At Valencia, Lorenzo took the decision to swap bikes – on lap 20 – as light rain fell. He struggled to get the bike stopped in the uncertain conditions and dropped down the order; he ultimately retired from the race.[60] He finished third in the final championship standings behind Márquez and Rossi, with 263 points.[61]

Lorenzo started the 2015 season by taking fourth-place finishes at Losail and Austin,[62] before adding a fifth-place finish in Argentina.[63] Lorenzo then took four successive victories – for the first time in his career[64] – at Jerez,[65] Le Mans,[66] Mugello,[67] and Barcelona.[68] These results moved him into second in the riders' championship standings, a point behind teammate Rossi. Lorenzo then finished third at Assen, losing ground to Rossi in the standings, after he won the race.[69] He finished in second place at Indianapolis,[70] before adding his fifth victory of the season at Brno.[71] He finished fourth place at Silverstone in wet conditions,[72] before crashing out at Misano.[73]

Lorenzo achieved his sixth win of the season – and the sixtieth of his career[74] – at the Aragon Grand Prix; coupled with Rossi's third place, he cut the deficit in the championship to Rossi, to 14 points.[75] The pair's results were enough for the team to clinch their respective title, their first since 2010. In Japan, Rossi extended the championship lead to eighteen with a second-place finish to Dani Pedrosa in drying conditions. Lorenzo had started on pole but faded to third with tyre issues.[76] In Australia, Lorenzo was passed for the lead on the final lap by Márquez; however, with Rossi down in fourth, Lorenzo cut the championship lead to eleven.[77] Lorenzo further cut the lead to seven, after a second-place finish in Malaysia; Rossi finished third after a collision with Márquez, whom he accused of working for Lorenzo, in which he accrued three penalty points – enough to enforce a start from the back of the grid for the final race in Valencia.[78] Rossi made it up to fourth in the race, but Lorenzo won the race and took the championship – his fifth world title overall[79] – by five points.[80]

Lorenzo in 2017

Lorenzo started the 2016 season by winning from pole position in Qatar.[81] In the coming three races, Lorenzo failed to grab a win and fell behind Marc Márquez in the title race following a crash and two runners-up finishes. Before his first runner-up finish at the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez, Lorenzo announced that he would leave the Yamaha team to join Ducati next season. Two consecutive wins in France and Italy put him back in front of the championship only to fall back to third due to a performance dip over the following 5 races. At Misano, Lorenzo put in a qualifying lap record to claim his 64th career pole an all-time record. Eventually, Lorenzo would finish 3rd at Misano and the following weekend at the Aragon Grand Prix, he would finish 2nd. But with five laps to go at the Japanese Grand Prix, he crashed while running in 2nd place allowing Marquez to clinch the championship. However, he wrapped up the season at Valencia not only with a qualifying lap record and his 65th career pole but with a win in his final race with Yamaha.

In 2017 season, Lorenzo switched team from Yamaha to Ducati. With initial trouble adjusting to the new bike, Lorenzo suffered a winless season for the first time in the premier class and his first since the 2005 250cc season, although he scored three podiums and finished seventh in the overall standings.

After yet another difficult season opening blighted by a brake failure in Qatar and a collision while fighting for a podium at Jerez, it was announced Lorenzo's contract would not be renewed for 2019. He then proceeded to win three races in quick succession, as well as scoring multiple pole positions. Lorenzo took his first Ducati victory in the Italian round at Mugello with a dominant lights-to-flag performance.[82] This was Lorenzo's sixth win at the particular circuit and broke his longest MotoGP winless streak up until that date. Remarkably, Lorenzo followed this up with a dominant win at the Circuit de Catalunya, his first back to back wins in MotoGP since 2016.[83]

Lorenzo's third win for the 2018 season came in Austria, taking out the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg. Lorenzo defeated Honda's Marc Marquez by 0.130 seconds.[84]

Following a crash which broke a bone in his foot on the first corner of the Aragon Grand Prix, Lorenzo withdrew from the Japanese[85] MotoGP and Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix at Phillip Island.[86] This was a start of a spell of several serious injuries, which carried on into his time at Honda.

On 6 June 2018, it was announced that Lorenzo would join Repsol Honda Team on a two-year deal, replacing retiring compatriot Dani Pedrosa.[87] Despite tough early going in the season, finishing no higher than 11th, Lorenzo presented positive development of the Honda for his riding style coming into the mid-season. Although making rapid gains, in the Catalan GP, he took out Valentino Rossi, Maverick Viñales and Andrea Dovizioso while making a hairpin corner pass in early race traffic.

Mugello 2019

At the Assen GP, Lorenzo suffered a tumble in the gravel during the first practice session and fractured a vertebra which eliminated him from race contention. He subsequently missed the next three rounds in recovery, and upon return claimed to be riding under duress of intense pain.

Le Mans 2019

On 14 November 2019 at a special press conference at Circuit Ricardo Tormo near Valencia, Spain during the last race of the season, Lorenzo announced his retirement from racing at the age of 32.[88] He finished the season in 19th place the riders' championship with just 28 points, his career worst season by far. It was also his first ever season in the premier class without a single podium finish, having failed to achieve even a single top-10 finish.

In January 2020, he was confirmed to be contracted as lead test rider for the Yamaha Factory Racing European test team.[89] Yamaha has a Japanese test team of Kohta Nozane and Katsuyuki Nakasuga.[90]

In March 2020, it was announced that Lorenzo would make at least one wildcard appearance in a season disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.[91][92] Due to wildcards being cancelled, this did not happen. Later in the year, Lorenzo revealed that he opted against making a permanent comeback within the Ducati stable for the 2021 season after serious considerations, also endorsing Francesco Bagnaia as the 'logical choice' to fill the factory seat in his place.[93]

Lorenzo has become known for his celebration antics, which became more frequent over the 2010 season. Those included Lorenzo imitating a Spaceman, jumping into the lake in the infield of the Jerez circuit, and Nintendo's Mario brothers making an appearance at the trackside.

During his reign as 250cc champion, Lorenzo was known to be very aggressive in his riding, particularly when overtaking others. He was penalised by a suspension which stopped 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 teammate Valentino Rossi.[94]

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 last lap clashing of fairings with Pedrosa and moments later taking Alex de Angelis down. 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 had his leathers which were left blackened at the knee slider after a previous incident with Lorenzo at the final round of the 2010 season. Simoncelli passed away later that year after being run over after falling onto the race track in Malaysia.

Lorenzo joins second place Ryan Farquhar and 2010 Senior TT winner Ian Hutchinson on the podium, following Hutchinson's historic fifth victory at the 2010 Isle of Man TT

During a break between the Italian and British rounds of the 2010 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'.[95]

At the conclusion of the Senior TT, Lorenzo then took part of the garlanding ceremony, in which he bestowed garlands on third placed Bruce Anstey, second placed Ryan Farquhar and winner Ian Hutchinson, rounding off Hutchinson's historical five race wins at the 2010 TT meeting.[95][96]

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