Jorge Lorenzo

Template:Infobox MotoGP rider Jorge Lorenzo (born May 4, 1987 in Palma de Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain), is a professional motorcycle road racer. He was the 2006 and 2007 250cc World Champion.

125s and 250s

Lorenzo made his championship debut on his fifteenth birthday, on the second qualifying day for the 2002 125cc Spanish Grand Prix - having to miss Friday practice as he was not old enough to race. Lorenzo dominated the 2007 250cc World Championship. His nine pole positions lead 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. Lorenzo made a great start to his MotoGP career, after qualifying on pole for the Qatar night race on March 8 and placing 2nd. 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.

File:Lorenzoshanghai2008crash.JPG

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.

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 e.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.

Grand Prix career statistics

By season

Season	Class	Motorcycle	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	15	0	6	4	0	167	5th
2006	250cc	Aprilia RSW 250	16	8	11	10	1	289	1st
2007	250cc	Aprilia RSW 250	17	9	12	9	3	312	1st
2008	MotoGP	Yamaha YZR-M1	17	1	6	4	1	190	4th
2009	MotoGP	Yamaha YZR-M1	2	1	2	0	0	41*	1st*
Total			112	22	45	30	8	1253

• * Season in progress.

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	19	2	8	4	1	231	0
Total	2002-Present				112	22	45	30	8	1253	2

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 Inj	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	ITA	CAT	NED	USA	GER	GBR	CZE	IND	SMR	POR	AUS	MAL	VAL		1st*	41*

• * Season In Progress

External links

• lorenzo99.com - Official website