Jorge Lorenzo has confirmed via his Twitter and Facebook pages that he’s been given the green light by his doctor to take part in this week’s final pre-season MotoGP test in Qatar.

The Spaniard has been doubtful that he would be able to test in Qatar after fracturing his first metacarpal and dislocating his thumb in a training incident last February.

Jorge Lorenzo:

“Today we are leaving for Qatar for the last Winter test. I think that it is important that we are there. The fracture happened less than five weeks ago, but we could not have missed this last test because it would have been negative for our preparation; we are not far from the first race of the season! The doctor has made a special carbon fibre protection and Dainese have modified my glove, in order to further protect the fracture, so we will see how we get on.”

Continue reading: MotoGP - Jorge Lorenzo confirms he'll be in Qatar

After missing the Sepang2 tests due to a fracture at the base of first metacarpal and a displaced thumb during a motocross training accident on February 12th, Jorge Lorenzo is still in doubt for the final pre-season MotoGP test that is scheduled for March 18-19 in Qatar.

While Lorenzo has constantly kept his numerous fans up-to-date on how his recovery is going and that he’s undergoing extensive physiotherapy, and will make his decision about Qatar only on Monday, as he wrote on his Twitter page yesterday: Hello people! Another day of intensive physiotherapy. Probably on monday i’ll decide if i can go to Qatar test.

The first race of the 2010 MotoGP season takes place at Losail, Qatar on April 11th.

Continue reading: Jorge Lorenzo to decide on Monday for Qatar Test

If there were any question about how important emerging markets are to motorcycle manufacturers just check out Fiat Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi’s and Jorge Lorenzo’s leathers and YZR-M1 bikes, that see the Semakin di Depan “One Step Ahead logos and the number of visits and superstar reception that these two high profile riders have received so far.

Rossi and Lorenzo just finished another whirlwind three day tour in Indonesia with Rossi came straight from testing in Malaysia last week, while Lorenzo flew out from Spain, where he has been recuperating at home from an injured hand.

Rossi visited Medan first, Indonesia’s third largest city, where he took part in a press conference alongside Yamaha Motor Indonesia top managemen and then visited PT. Alfa Scorpii, Indonesia’s second largest Yamaha Main Dealer, for the opening ceremony of its new show room along with over 400 customers and media and the moved on to Indonesia’s second largest city Surabaya, where he visited PT. Surya Timur Sakti Jatim, Indonesia’s largest Yamaha Main Dealer and finally he visited the DBL Arena to meet around 4,000 Yamaha customers.

Lorenzo meanwhile headed to Indonesia’s ‘Flower City’ Bandung, where he too took part in an important press conference to launch the ‘Semakin di Depan’ sponsorship. As well as the press conference he enjoyed a warm welcome at an exclusive fan meet and greet where he signed hundreds of autographs and met the local media. He moved on to Jogjakarta, the city where the traditional Indonesian art of batik is practiced, to meet more Yamaha customers there and take part in some outdoor activities at one of the biggest malls in Jogjakarta.

Continue reading: Rossi and Lorenzo Superstars in Indonesia

Being a professional rider and a former World Champion isn’t always winning, podiums, and fantastic racing and adoring fans as Ducati’s Nicky Hayden well knows. Sometimes it’s hurting, injuries, surgery, stitches and getting back in shape again as fast as you can.

Hayden finally had his stitches taken out after a clean up procedure following arm pump surgeryand announced it on his Twitter page with “Stiches just out back in the saddle for Malaysia2 test in T-4 days….. Yeay buddy!!! and posted this pic to go with it.

Jorge Lorenzo also had his stitches removed after his motorcross accident and he too announced it via Twitter the other day with a “Prueba superada, ya me han quitado los puntos de la mano!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ” (passed test, they’ve removed the stitches from my hand).

What can we say except, get well soon guys and could you teach us your secrets in healing so fast?

Source | nickyhaydentwitter

Continue reading: Nicky Hayden's Arm after Surgery and Stitches

Jorge Lorenzo wrote on his Twitter page ressuring his loyal fans: “this is the 5th day after i injured. Every day i feel better so im optimistic about my recovering” also underwent a check-up yesterday by his surgeon Dr. Auguste Josè Casasnova.

The 2009 MotoGP World Championship runner-up who sustained a metacarpal fracture and a displaced thumb after a motocross training accident last Thursday, has already been ruled out of the second Sepang test could also miss the final pre-season test that takes place in Qatar March 18-19, according to his personal press manager Hector Martin:

“At the moment there are serious doubts as to whether Jorge will be fully recovered for the Qatar test. We must wait and see how his injury and rehabilitation go after he has his stitches removed, which will be next Friday or Monday.”

Lorenzo however, will still be heading to Indonesia for a second Yamaha promotional tour at the end of the month.

Source | motogp.com

Continue reading: MotoGP: Jorge Lorenzo in Doubt for Qatar Test

The Yamaha decision to not have Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo exchange data in 2010 has sparked another comic from Luca Ruggeri , who has come up with this idea to help Jorge Lorenzo solve any problems he could have eventually have this year.

Source | motoblog

Continue reading: How to solve the no data sharing problem

The other day we saw a video of Jorge Lorenzo training in the rain and yesterday Lorenzo told fans from his Facebook page that he was heading out to have fun training with a motocross bike near Montmelò with best friend Ricky and Superbike riders Carlos and Davide Checa, unfortunately for Lorenzo he fell and injured his right hand.

The Fiat Yamaha rider fell in slow corner (30 km/h) and fractured the base of his first metacarpal and also displaced his thumb. Lorenzo was operated on by Doctor Augusto J. Casanovas who made an open reduction and osteosynthesis with a small titanium plate that will require hand protection.

The Spanish rider was released from the hospital this morning and is expected to have a recovery period between four to six weeks which will definitely count him out for the upcoming Sepang test that is scheduled for February 25-26th.

Lorenzo is expected to make a full recovery in time for the final pre-season test in Qatar that takes place March 18-19.

Continue reading: MotoGP - Jorge Lorenzo Injured in Motocross Accident

From a very hot and muggy Sepang on the most technological bikes in the world, to the heat of Thailand to ride a 150cc Yamaha scooter and back to a cold and rainy Spain, watch Jorge Lorenzo and his friend Ricky (Cardùs?) do a little knee down training in the rain on a makeshift track.

According to Lorenzo it was Ricky who binned it, so why is he wearing Lorenzo’s 2009 Nolan X-Lite X-802 helmet?

Source | lorenzo99twitter.com

Continue reading: Jorge Lorenzo Goes Training in the Rain (w/video)

Following the MotoGP tests at Sepang last Thursday and Friday, Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi jumped on a plane and headed to Bangkok, Thailand to take part in a two day promotional visit for Thailand Yamaha Motor.

The two Fiat Yamaha riders visited the Yamaha Riders Club, where they greeted Yamaha VIP customers and then took part in an exclusive TV interview with the Thailand Night Show.

On Sunday, Rossi and Lorenzo in front of almost 10,000 fans unveiled the new Yamaha Nuovo 150cc scooter with both riders taking a spin on special 46 and 99 replica versions of the new model. Before leaving, Rossi and Lorenzo had the chance to meet Mr. Nagashima, President of Thailand Yamaha Motor, and Mr. Yanagi, who will be Yamaha Motor Company’s new president, starting from 25th March.

Continue reading: Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo Visit Thailand

After Yamaha’s announcement that their will no longer be data sharing between Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo and the Spaniard’s nettled: “I don’t have anything to comment on this.” We thought that the story was laid to bed, instead Lorenzo in an interview with Spanish AS.com has come out with his opinion on the question.

“I have great respect for Valentino. He has an incredible talent and is an intelligent person. Last year I was close to beating him and with a step forward I can have the chance to succeed. I do not care what he says, I’m not interested in listening to that I copy his bike’s settings to win. I think about myself. In 2009, we compared data and there were races where we did well, in others both Valentino and I did worse.”

The choice to avoid data sharing in Yamaha has however surprised Lorenzo, at least from a company point of view:

“I don’t know why Yamaha made this choice, I believe that this will slow down development on the bike. However I’m not worried, I’m self sufficient.”

Lorenzo also explained the gap between him, Rossi and Casey Stoner in the Sepang test:

“I’m a bit of a diesel, I start slowly, and then build up for the to start the championship. Stoner and Valentino are now very fast, but there’s only a few tenths catch up on, I am not worried there’s 18 races and the championship is very long.”

Source | as.com via sportmediaset

Continue reading: Jorge Lorenzo: 'I believe Yamaha's decision will slow development'

We’ve got more exclusive pics from the final day of testing from Motoblog’s Lallai who was with the Fiat on the Web team in Sepang and all the riders quotes.

Valentino Rossi - 1st 2′00″925 (32 laps)

“After yesterday this second day has been very good as well, even though we lost a few hours to the rain, and the end we were still able to finish all our work. We worked on the new bike to find a better setting and I was happy to be the fastest overall - even though this is just testing this is important for me! At the next test we will have a few more new things but we’re already happy because we’re fast and strong. There is room to improve of course; Sepang is always a good track for the Yamaha so we will have to wait until Qatar to get a better understanding of our level, but we have made a great start.”

Casey Stoner - 2nd 2′01″320 (44 laps)

“We are quite happy with the test. Today didn’t start really well because of the rain and the wet track, which set us back a few hours, but when it finally did dry out we were able to make some progress. We have definitely improved the set-up of the bike, trying some different things with the swingarm. The lap times are still not where we want them to be and we have to work on taking another couple of tenths off on hard tyres, but to be consistently doing 2′01.9 or 2′02.0 laps is a decent pace. Considering that we are using a different engine to the one we’ve had for the last three years and some other new parts that we still need to get the best out of we certainly can’t be unhappy with where we’re at. There is work to do but we have two more test sessions before the season starts for real. In general I am really pleased with how it’s gone.”

Jorge Lorenzo - 3rd 2′01″320 (60 laps)

“I felt much better today and I was able to be fast straight away. 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.”

Continue reading: MotoGP Sepang Test Friday: More Pics and Rider Quotes

In the final day of MotoGP testing, and after a very wet start in the morning that saw only eleven riders risking it out on track, Nicky Hayden came out on top, followed by Marco Melandri and Hector Barbera and Jorge Lorenzo.

By 2pm, the track dried out and all the ‘aliens’ were back in action and business was as usual. Jorge Lorenzo hit the top of the chart, with Valentino Rossi, who sat out the morning session and with only nine laps on his Yamaha in second place and Casey Stoner, who also sat out the morning, in third.

Marco Simoncelli highsided in the fast part of the circuit, picking up some grazing his left thigh and elbow and cuts on his little finger. After a visit to the Clinica Mobile, Simoncelli was back on track on his second bike.

Ben Spies who seems to have gotten over his jet lag was in fourth, a little less than 6 tenths of second from Lorenzo.

Continue reading: MotoGP Sepang Test Friday: Valentino Rossi On Top Again