Lorenzo Ready to Test in Qatar

Arya Perdhana - detiksport

Bandung - suffered injuries Jorge Lorenzo made him absent from the MotoGP test at Sepang Circuit. For the next test will be held in Qatar, Lorenzo claimed to be ready to go down.

Lorenzo injured in his hand bandaged after a fall on a circuit in Barcelona, 11 February. However, unlike the crowded reported, Lorenzo admitted the injury was not driving motokross.

"I did not fall because motokross, but when driving a Yamaha motorcycle in an exercise," said Lorenzo detiksport answer questions on the show visit to Bandung, Sabtu (27/2/2010).

"I trained very hard time. Sometimes, when we practice very hard, then we fall. That's what happened," added the drivers born 22 years ago.

As a result of injuries in his hand, Lorenzo had missed test in Sepang. According to reports, the drivers that Yamaha would even absent in the test in Qatar, 18-19 Maret future. But Lorenzo claimed his health continues to improve and he promised to appear at the Losail.

"I'm trying to heal myself. I'm sure I'll be ready physically to face the last test, as well as in the first series," said runner-up 2009's MotoGP world.

Lorenzo hopes to recover in time and take the test also expressed by the Fiat Yamaha team manager of the new, Wilco Zeelenberg, in the same opportunity.

"We still have 20 days, about three weeks, to make ready menungganggi Lorenzo bike," said Zeelenberg.

"To up the motor that can go up to 300 km per hour, braking ability is also required. This is a rather sensitive to Jorge because of the injury in the thumb. But I'm sure he'll recover," he said.

Problem of New Policy Yamaha Team

Yamaha says that the decision not share data between Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo will not lead to conflict. But Lorenzo faction rate is not good policy.Yamaha "let" Rossi and Lorenzo compete openly, after the two drivers decided to no longer exchange data on this season. Japanese manufacturers were convinced that this decision will not lead to conflict between the champions and runners-up last season's.Lorenzo himself, despite claiming not to understand the decision Yamaha, was not a problem if he had come second later.Now the Spaniard racer faction back up to talk about team policy. "For motor development, this policy is not good. When we wear Valentino with Michelin and Bridgestone, data sharing is an obligation. But now the policy (do not share data) was not unreasonable and in my opinion is a step backwards," said crew chief Lorenzo , quoted from Focada Ramon Motorcycle News.Still do not want polemics Focada in words too long. "We will continue our work with our own way. At the end of the season we'll see whether this policy a good Yamaha or not," tuntasnya.

Lorenzo Forgot How to race

Arya Perdhana - detiksport Reuters / Yeob Men Hazrin Shah Sepang

Since the 2009 season ended in November, the practical MotoGP racer never touched a motor racing. Jorge Lorenzo claimed even forgot how to race. That's the feeling when menggebar Lorenzo Yamaha YZR-M1 on the first day of testing at Sepang Circuit, Thursday (4/2/2010). It could be the announcement due on the first day, Lorenzo only be the fifth fastest. Fortunately all it's just temporary.

On the second day, Friday (5 / 2), Lorenzo had begun to adapt. As a result, the third position behind Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner became his notes. "This time I feel better and I can just look fast. Yesterday it was no big deal really, but after a long holiday, I was a bit forgotten how to race," I Lorenzo in Crash. "I need a little time, but the results of the second day was better. I'm happy with my performance and my feeling of the bike," added 22-year-old boy was. For this year, Lorenzo said that Yamaha has provided the character the same motor bike last year with a great success. Lorenzo was hoping everything would be ready before the first race held in Qatar, 11 April next. "We do not have much time left until the start of the season, so we'll use the time available to continue our work was this good," he hoped.

The lowdown from Wilco Zeelenberg

Jorge Lorenzo’s Team Manager tells motogp.com about his background, and what his targets with the Spanish rider are for their first season together in a video interview.
One of the new faces in the MotoGP paddock for the 2010 season will be Dutchman Wilco Zeelenberg, who takes control of Jorge Lorenzo’s side of the Fiat Yamaha team garage.
Zeelenberg has made the move from Yamaha’s supersport team where he won the 2009 world championship with British rider Cal Crutchlow, and is an experienced racer himself. A career which stretched from the late 80s to 1995 in the World Championship saw Zeelenberg compete in the 250cc class, taking 11 podiums and a win as he experienced almost 100 Grands Prix.
“It was of course a pity to leave supersport, but it’s a really big challenge to fight in the highest class of motorcycle racing in MotoGP. Jorge is a fantastic rider and I’m looking forward to this new season,” explained Zeelenberg. “It’s always been a pressure to get good results and to perform so I’ve been used to it since I was three years old, because that’s when I started riding myself! I don’t feel it as a pressure.”
On his return to the World Championship scene as a Team Manager, Zeelenberg added: “I left this paddock maybe 15 years ago and when I return to the GP paddock now I see many of the same faces in each pit box, a couple I actually know from the past. So it’s nice to come back.”
Moving onto his aims for the forthcoming season with Lorenzo, Zeelenberg said of the 2009 MotoGP World Championship runner-up: “He’s a very motivated and focused young kid and I think that’s one of his big advantages. We don’t have to motivate him, he is really eager to win. I think the first three or four races of the season will be very important – to perform well and not make mistakes. Valentino is a very experienced rider and he will take advantage of every mistake made by other riders. I think the young guys will push harder when they make a mistake, and at the fifth, sixth, seventh rounds they will push and maybe make even more mistakes. Jorge knows that he can beat anybody when everything is correct, but he should also understand that if not everything is perfect for that race he must be able to sit back and take a podium.”
He continued: “I think Jorge needs somebody who believes in him because there are of course two good riders in the one team. I think we need to focus on him and he has ten guys who are now really working for Jorge, and I think we should show him that. I think then he can perform as he is able to, and that will help him throughout the season. You have to perform well when it’s the right moment, and you have to make the right decision when everything is not 100%.”
Bringing a strong technical knowledge to Lorenzo’s set-up with his former experience on the bike, Zeelenberg gave his view on the 2010 version of the YZR-M1 prototype.
“The base bike is quite similar (to 2009) so we have an advantage with that I think. Each track we arrive at we can use our base set-up from last year. That means we can arrive at a track at which we won last year and start from a good base, and at a track where we had some problems we know what to adjust.”
Concluding, Zeelenberg stated his thoughts on the new rule restrictions with regards to the use of six engines across all 18 rounds of the 2010 World Championship.
“The six-engine rule is a big thing,” he added. “Everybody has really focused on that issue during the winter, so it’s a secret to say what happened! But of course that was the main priority for the factory to concentrate on.”

Team Manager and Jorge Lorenzo Photo

Exclusive Q & A with Jorge Lorenzo

Conducted and provided by the Yamaha press office
Q. Everyone expects that the rivalry between you and Valentino will be even stronger this year. How do you plan to manage it?
Jorge Lorenzo: I think our rivalry is not personal, but just limited to the sport area. For me it is normal: we both want to win and we are in the same team. Last year we had a very polite and good relationship with the media and I expect this year to be the same again.
Q. Who is your biggest rival this year and why?
JL: I don't know. Theoretically Valentino, Casey, Dani and me are the riders who are going to fight for the championship, but I am sure that it is possible that somebody else will be fighting with us for the championship.
Q. Is your aim this season to be world champion? Will you be satisfied with second place again?
JL: Yes, I would be satisfied with the second position. It is a very difficult position to get, especially now that I am riding with fantastic riders. Anyway, I want to win but I am not in a hurry to get the championship. I have to be patient.
Q. You made a few mistakes last year, what have you learnt from them and how will you avoid making similar ones this year?
JL: I think that last year's problem was that all four riders were riding at their limit at every race and in that condition it is very difficult to finish the races. It is true that I made a few mistakes of strategy or concentration that I will try to avoid this year, but I am quite satisfied with my 2009 season.
Q. Your first season in MotoGP was spectacular but included a lot of injuries. After such an up-and-down first year, did you expect to be as strong as you were in your second?
JL: I hoped to be more regular and faster. Again this year I want to try to be better but you know, maybe I will not get it. And if you can't be better, you may go down mentally, so I will try again and I will try to improve my performances.
Q. How do you think you can improve this season? Are there any specific areas you want to focus on that will make you a stronger racer?
JL: Yes, I really think that my starts are not the best. This winter I have been training very hard to improve this quality, because if you start well you avoid many problems...
Q. Have you requested any developments for the M1 this year to tailor it more to your riding style?
JL: You know, fortunately one of my best qualities is that I can adapt my riding style pretty easily, so for this reason I don't think I have to tell many things to our engineers. I think Valentino has more experience and is a very good rider, so I have my hopes to him to develop the M1.
Q. If you are faced with a replay of Barcelona 2009 this season, do you think you will know how to beat Valentino this time?
JL: Well, I really don't know what I could do if that happened again this year. One thing is what you imagine you could be doing and another thing is what you do when you are on the bike. I have seen many videos about that overtaking and maybe I could have closed the line more. But, as I said, who knows...
Q. This year you will have a new team manager and a new data technician, do you expect any changes in the way your team works and what are you expecting from the new team members?
JL: One of the main changes this year is the new team manager. Last two years we had Daniele Romagnoli, that was a great team manager: he worked very hard and we got very good results. For a series of reasons we had to change the team manager and now we have Wilco Zeelenberg, who may give me some good advices, that Daniele could not give me, because Wilco is a former rider and for sure he has more knowledge about racing. As you know we have a new data engineer, Davide Marelli, and I hope we will be doing a good job together.
Q. After two seasons, do you feel as if you're taking more of a part in the development of the bike?
JL: Yes, I am more prepared to do this job because I have more experience and I know more about the bike. I can speak with the engineers with more knowledge about this job. Valentino continues to be the leader of the development of the M1 but Furusawa knows that I must start this difficult job as soon as possible, in the interest of Yamaha and mine.
Q. There was speculation about your contract last year. Do you feel happy in the team at the moment?
JL: Yes, I am very very happy. I have always been happy in Yamaha. From the first moment I joined this factory they all welcomed me like one of the family and the ambience in the garage is perfect. To me, my ideal is to be staying with Yamaha for a long time. We will see.
Q. What do you think about some of Valentino's comments about your future together in the team? Are you happy sharing a garage with him?
JL: Yes, I am happy to be with Valentino. I think that with no other riders I could learn more than with him. In general we are the best team in MotoGP.
Q. What do you think about the rookies coming into MotoGP this season?
JL: To be honest, I did not expect that the MotoGP category could be more talented that it was in the last two years, but it seems that it will be a more and more fast category next season. For sure the coming of Spies, Bautista, Barbera and Aoyama will do the show of the MotoGP even more interesting for the fans and for the riders.
Q. Do you think Simoncelli or Spies can make as big an impact as you made in 2008?
JL: Yes, why not? They are world champions, they are young, they are very fast and they want to be fast in MotoGP as early as possible. Maybe it will not be easy to improve my debut, because I won the pole position and I finished second in the race, but if they do not crash, they could even improve my final result.

Lorenzo : Hard to find rhythm

Jorge Lorenzo has admitted that he struggled to come to terms with the new Yamaha as pre-season testing began in earnest at Sepang on Thursday. The Spaniard's best attempt of 2:02.165 landed him in fifth position, three quarters of a second off the leading time of team-mate Valentino Rossi.

With Rossi on top and three other teams filling positions two to four, Lorenzo's efforts confirmed that both Yamahas finished in the top five although he admits that adapting was not the easiest of tasks following the off-season.

"After such a long break I found it quite hard to find my rhythm on the bike today," the Barcelona man explained. "Motocross bikes are not the same as the new M1! It was quite a difficult start to the day but, little by little, I started to feel more comfortable and to improve my pace."This afternoon, when it was a bit warmer, I began to improve my times even more and get closer to the first rider, so in the end I was quite happy with our work. Today was my first day of riding with my new Team Manager, Wilco Zeelenberg, and I feel good with him; he's an ex rider and so we were able to share a lot of information and he was able to give me some good advice."

Jorge Lorenzo was in a far more optimistic

The motogpupdate.net reporting that Jorge Lorenzo was in a far more optimistic mood on Friday after moving his Yamaha up the order to third in Sepang testing. The Spaniard had struggled to get to grips with his bike on Thursday, ending the day fifth, but is now more confident after posting a best effort of 2:01.680 on a day of variable weather conditions."I felt much better today and I was able to be fast straight away," explained the Barcelona man, who this time was only two tenths off the leading pace. "It wasn't a big problem yesterday; it's just that, after such a long break, I forget how to ride a little bit! I need a bit of time, but it was much better today."I'm happy about my performance and about my feeling with the new bike. Yamaha have made good improvements without changing the best parts of the bike and this is the best way - they have made some good modifications to the chassis and the engine and this has already improved our pace."We don't have many days on the bike until the start of the season so we will make the most of the time here next month to continue our good work."