MotoGP Lorenzo Pilot tester of the Yamaha 2020

USPA NEWS - Jorge Lorenzo is now a Yamaha test driver and calmly without pressure he will take on the development of Yamaha together with Silvano Galbusera, former chief mechanic of Valentino Rossi. It seems very likely that we will see Lorenzo again in the race.

The three-times MotoGP world champion announced his retirement from motorcycle racing on November 14, 2019. he told us that afternoon at Valencia. What we didn´t know at the time was that most likely he wasn´t retiring at all. “Yamaha was very interested already when I announced my retirement, through Lin Jarvis,“ Lorenzo told us at Sepang on Sunday. “So they contacted me very soon and I got their proposal very soon. I needed to decide if I wanted to ride again. Obviously knowing that it was a Yamaha was a good point for taking that direction, and I wanted to study the offer and the contract.“ Eleven weeks later Yamaha announced a one-year testing contract with Lorenzo. And a few days after that the factory announced a wild-card entry for June´s Catalan GP. The team advised that they secured the entry before they had signed off the Lorenzo deal but, no doubt, they already knew he was interested in riding again.

Lorenzo was back on the bike with Yamaha during the Sepang tests Last Tuesday at Sepang the 32-year-old climbed aboard a Yamaha YZR-M1, just 81 days after he climbed off a Honda RC213V at Valencia. And he loved every minute of it. “I felt a happiness I hadn´t felt for a long time,“ he said.Lorenzo retired because he had the fear ““ spinal injuries and brain injuries get the attention of even the toughest racer. No reasonable person would even think of questioning the three-time MotoGP champion´s decision to retire because he was fearful of finishing off the damage he had done to his spine in two nasty crashes last June, which could´ve put him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. But after he had parked his RC213V on the afternoon of November 17, it didn´t take him long to realise that he was facing an even bigger fear ““ the horror of never riding a MotoGP bike again, of never feeling that rush of adrenaline as you dance along that precipice, knowing that the only person that can save you is yourself.

Testing factory MotoGP bikes is a great way for a racing junkie to wean himself off those shots of adrenaline, or at least the biggest shots. Riding around evaluating the latest technical upgrades won´t deliver the wildest hit of them all ““ that Sunday afternoon primal scream into Turn One ““ but there are so many upsides ““ less pressure, less time away from home, less hassle and much less chance of hurting yourself ““ that it´s a price worth paying. Most racers change the day they stop racing. Their faces are brightened by the act of letting go, of relinquishing responsibility and of no longer having those thousand-and-one thoughts whirling around inside their heads every race weekend. On the other hand, there are the retired racers who change the other way. They get depressed, which is no surprise, because how do you replace the greatest drug of them all ““ mainlining adrenaline?

Lorenzo on his way to the 2015 MotoGP title with Yamaha At Valencia 2019 Lorenzo said he was 99 per cent certain he would never race again. After he rode again at Sepang he said he´s only 98 per cent certain. I wonder if he might be exaggerating. And what if he does race at Barcelona in June? Lorenzo had a two-year contract with HRC, for 2019 and 2020. When Valentino Rossi wanted to leave Ducati at the end of the first year of his two-year 2011/2012 deal he was politely reminded of the paragraph in his contract which stated that if he did walk, he couldn´t race another brand of motorcycle in 2012. So he stuck with the Desmosedici. Only now that we know this can we even begin to imagine what a prison sentence that must´ve been for Rossi. Lorenzo, had no problems with Honda last November because he told them he was retiring, not changing factories, so their two-year contract was voided. But did he talk with Jarvis before his Honda contract was binned.

“At Valencia it was Jorge´s clear intention to stop, that´s why he officially retired. Then, for whatever reason, he decided to continue. From Honda´s point of view everyone is free to do what they want to do with their life. We are happy for him.“ There are plenty of people in the MotoGP paddock that can´t help but wonder if Lorenzo announced his retirement simply to extricate himself from his Honda contract. It´s a mystery to which we´ll probably never know the answer. And if he does race in June and he does realise that he still enjoys that primal scream into the first corner and he does show the world that he still has the speed that made him one of the greatest riders of his generation, what then? A good ride at Catalunya would be a great advert to prospective employees for 2021, when there will be plenty of seats that need filling.

Jorge Lorenzo is now a Yamaha test driver and calmly without pressure he will take on the development of Yamaha together with Silvano Galbusera, former chief mechanic of Valentino Rossi. It seems very likely that we will see Lorenzo again in the race. Where and when it will be on the track Jorge Lorenzo has returned to Yamaha as a test driver. Lorenzo, in fact, after three months from his retirement from the racing world, returned to the track at Sepang driving the M1 to carry out the Yamaha test job to try to win the world champion title to Valentino Rossi, Vinales but also to the satellite team of Quartararo and Morbidelli. Now a 2020 full of events on the track awaits him. Lorenzo will be back on track in April (the exact date has not been communicated) for a first test in Japan, probably on the Motegi circuit. It will also participate in the various MotoGP tests scheduled during the year: in Jerez on May 4, after the Spanish GP, in Barcelona on June 8, after the Catalan GP, and in Finland, on the new KymiRing track on the 15th. and June 16, when Michelin tires will be tested. It will also be present in Misano, for the tests scheduled for September 15 and 16, two days after the San Marino Grand Prix, but Galbusera also talks about an appointment scheduled for August. Furthermore, it seems that Jorge Lorenzo's contract also foresees participation in some Grand Prix this season. The first, and most likely, could be that of Catalonia, the weekend of June 7th.