Jorge Lorenzo: a career in the championship that does not explain his year at Ducati

2023 Author: Nicholas Abramson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-09-01 00:14

Season of Jorge Lorenzo at Ducati was somewhat disappointing. Since his signing for the Italian brand became official, expectations for the 99 were very high, including those of the factory itself, which was betting on the Majorcan as the main driver ahead of Andrea Dovizioso, whom they considered the second option (and whose renewal is now in doubt).

In the end nothing could be further from the truth and it was Dovi who was about to get his first MotoGP title against Marc Márquez. Lorenzo for his part spent a year with confidence problems with the bike itself and also adapting to a mount that many classify as the most complicated. Some blamed the bike and others a lack of talent from the rider, but the truth is that no one expected such a start. Surely neither did he.

Arrival at the Motorcycle World Championship and first successes

After two years competing with the Monlau Competition in the 125cc Spanish Championship, having to request a special permit from the Royal Spanish Motorcycling Federation for being only 13 years old, and his passage through the European Championship to Jorge Lorenzo reached his premiere at the World Championship in 2002 hand in hand with Derbi. Again age was playing against him and he had to be without competing the first two races as he was not 15 years old.

His first season would not be easy, he only managed to add 21 points but it served him to gain experience for the following ones. In his second year he would arrive his first pole in Catalonia, the sixth race of the year, although he would have to wait to get to the top of the podium for six more races at the Nelson Piquet circuit in Brazil. He would finish the season twelfth with 79 points.

The 2004 it would be his last year with Derbi before making the jump to 250cc. Adding 100 more points than the previous year Jorge Lorenzo was beginning to find his riding style and the improvement was remarkable. Got seven podiums, of which three were victories, in addition to making two poles and scoring two fastest laps.

Honda saw potential in him and decided to sign him for the intermediate category. The premiere was not bad at all, ending fifth in the standings overall and although he did not achieve any victory, he did achieve four poles and six podiums, achieving both for the first time in Italy. After his good start in the displacement, perhaps no one expected a change of saddle but Lorenzo decided to join Aprilia.

The change was like a glove and he took the title in two consecutive years. The first of those seasons with Aprilia would add 289 points and 11 podiums of which eight were victories. In 2007 he managed to improve his numbers with 9 victories in a total of 12 podiums which caused the number of points to also rise, reaching 312.

Three premier category titles in 10 years

After his good career in the lower categories, his arrival in MotoGP was a matter of time. The Fiat Yamaha did not hesitate to count on him to began his career in MotoGP in 2008 as a partner of Valentino Rossi. That gesture would always be taken into account by Lorenzo who, despite having other succulent offers for years, would remain faithful to the Japanese brand until his signing for Ducati.

In his first season he managed to stay fourth in the standings overall with 190 points. He got three consecutive poles in Qatar, Jerez and Portugal, although falls and injuries would come after an overconfidence, as he himself has said on many occasions. He finished the season achieving a total of six podiums and a victory in the Portuguese country.

The second year Jorge's at Yamaha was in which the relationship with Rossi began to be more complicated. The Italian saw that Lorenzo was willing to fight for the world championship and as they say "the first opponent is your teammate", who carries the same motorcycle. The atmosphere in the box was tense and they began to be practically two different teams, with walls in between.

The championship went again to Valentino, who was served a third place in Malaysia to win, although the Spanish was runner-up with a total of 261 points 45 from the first. The improvement was evident over the previous year, achieving a total of 12 podiums and four victories in Japan, France, Indianapolis and Portugal.

The 2010 it would be Lorenzo's year since would get his first crown in the top category of the MotoGP World Championship, curiously also in Malaysia. He also did it, achieving the absolute points record, reaching a total of 383. Dani Pedrosa would occupy the second position in the general classification and Valentino Rossi would have to settle for third place.

The joy of the Mallorcan was maximum since he had missed a large part of the preseason after an accident while riding a bicycle with a broken hand that made everything start off on the wrong foot. But once the action started, he managed to finish all the races and make 16 podiums, of which nine were victories, and two fourth places in Aragon and Japan.

The march of Valentino Rossi to Ducati and that of Casey Stoner to Honda marked a year 2011 full of grid movements of MotoGP. The Fiat Yamaha would also change its name to become Yamaha Factory Racing and its ranks would be joined by the American Ben Spies to fill the gap left by number 46.

Stoner had a perfect season in which he gave his rivals no options and won the title with 350 points. Lorenzo had to settle for to be runner-up again with 260, followed by Dani Pedrosa who added a total of 228.

Would be in 2012 the year Jorge got his second title with Yamaha. The Japanese factory had managed to improve its differences with respect to Honda and they once again had a winning motorcycle. It was a tight championship in which the winner achieved 350 points for Dani Pedrosa's 332.

Lorenzo's year was very regular, making a total of 16 podiums with seven that were victories and the rest second places. The other two remaining Grand Prix did not finish, they were Holland and Valencia.

The arrival in 2013 of Marc Márquez to the highest category It would change everything, especially for Honda who got a powerful bike again. That year the championship was close until the end, leaving a difference of only four points between the Catalan and Lorenzo who ended up again getting the runner-up after a year marked by his clavicle fractures in Assen and Germany.

It was in 2014 where Honda once again had a season like the one it had with Stoner three years before but in this case with Márquez as the winning ship and a total sum of 362 points. Rossi, who had returned the year before to the now Movistar Yamaha MotoGP, ended up taking the runner-up quite far with 295 points and Lorenzo was third with 263.

The 2015 It would be the last year of maximum joy, at least so far, for the Mallorcan. Again in a very tight season he won the championship against his teammate Valentino Rossi. Everything was decided in Valencia and the difference between the two in the general classification was just five points.

The next season It was the last at Yamaha, a very irregular year and in which the ghosts of the bad relationship between him and Rossi were present again. He only got four victories in Qatar, France, Italy and Valencia and the third position in the general classification after Márquez as champion and Rossi in second place.

His worst year in the category Reina has signed him in this first season with Ducati, in which he has only added 137 points and has not managed to go beyond seventh position in the standings. With no victories to add to his list, his greatest joy was the three podiums he achieved in Jerez, Aragon and Malaysia, the latter marked by the controversy of the famous 'Mapping 8'.

Despite this bad season at the moment it is still the fifth rider with the most victories in the history of the Grand Prix adding a total of 65 to 11 of the great Mike Hailwood who occupies the fourth place and with a Marc Márquez who follows him very closely with 61.