MOTOGP » JORGE LORENZO
CAREER
Jorge Lorenzo finished fourth in the 2008 MotoGP World Championship and in doing so claimed the rookie of the year title. Lorenzo made a stunning impact with three poles and three podiums from his first three MotoGP races with Fiat Yamaha, including a debut victory at round three in Estoril.
However, a massive highside during practice for the following Chinese GP left Lorenzo was fractured ankles and, despite finishing runner-up at round five in France, marked the start of a confidence-sapping run of accidents and injuries that included his withdraw from Catalunya and another huge highside on lap one of the US GP.
But it was during this difficult period that Lorenzo won over numerous new fans. Lorenzo had often come across as 'overconfident' during his title-winning 250GP campaigns, but showed a much more human side as he spoke frankly about the fears he was battling every time he got back on the bike after his accidents - and displayed undisputed courage in trying to ride through his injuries.
Once his numerous injuries had healed, Lorenzo - the youngest rider on the grid - rebuilt his confidence with five front rows and two podiums during the last six rounds and was the highest placed Michelin rider in the final standings.
Lorenzo's 2008 performance was the best by a rookie since Valentino Rossi in 2000 and the Spaniard will have high expectations for 2009, when he will remain alongside the Italian at Yamaha’s factory team.
Lorenzo had entered MotoGP as a 20-year old double 250cc world champion, having won the title for the previous two years with Aprilia.
Lorenzo was born on the Balearic island of Mallorca, Spain on 4th May 1987. He began riding motorbikes at home at the tender age of three and within months of taking to two wheels was competing in his first minicross races. In 1995, aged eight, he won the Balearic title and followed that up the following year by taking the Island’s minicross, trial, minimoto and junior motocross titles.
Lorenzo graduated to road racing and national competition in 1997 and it didn’t take him long to adjust, winning the Aprilia 50cc Cup in 1998. Despite officially being too young, a special dispensation in 2000 allowed him to compete in the Spanish 125cc series at the age of 13 and he made history the following year when competing in Europe and becoming the youngest ever winner of a European 125cc race.
The precocious teenager, once again showing that age was no limit to a quick rise up the ranks of motorbike racing, made his first foray onto the world stage with Derbi at the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez in 2002, the third round of the season. He did not reach the legal age of 15 until Saturday and therefore missed the first day of practice but was unfazed by this and impressed the paddock by qualifying for the race, cementing his position in the World Championship over the course of the season as he got to grips with the circuits.
The young Mallorcan came of age the following season, winning his first 125cc Grand Prix in Rio de Janeiro and then going on to win three more races the following season, finishing fourth in 2004 and taking his podium tally to nine before making the step up the quarter-litre class and switching to Honda machinery. Six podium finishes and four pole positions in his rookie 250cc season sealed fifth in the championship and, with a move to the Aprilia factory team, 2006 was widely expected to be his defining year.
Lorenzo indeed surpassed all expectations in 2006, dominating the class with eight wins and a record-equalling ten poles, clinching his first world title convincingly. 2007 saw more of the same and an incredible nine pole positions saw him win from every single one of them, claiming his second world title at the penultimate round in Sepang. He also became the most successful 250cc Spanish rider of all time in the process.
