It is with courage and determination that Jorge Lorenzo heads to Silverstone, less than two months after being seriously injured. For several specialists, he is taking a significant risk because he will not yet be in 100% shape, and a new fall on his T6 and T8 vertebrae (sixth and eighth thoracic vertebrae of the spine) could have harmful consequences.
But Lorenzo, on the one hand, has always been able to show courage when necessary (broken collarbone during testing at Assen, but participation in the race on Sunday a few years ago), and on the other hand for his first season with Honda, he must regret not having been able to participate in the Grands Prix of Assen, Germany, Brno and Austria. He must somewhat justify his remuneration, but above all he must complement the efforts of Marc Márquez to help in the team classification the Repsol Honda Team, second with 259 points, to snatch the first position currently held by the Ducati team with 308 units.
Honda is not asking for miracles, specifying that “ the objective of this first weekend will be to help Jorge Lorenzo to acclimatize again to the RC213V and to evaluate his level of performance after having missed important driving time on the track ". No unnecessary pressure in these reasonable remarks.
If the return to competition goes well, Jorge will then have three weeks to idealize his physical condition until the Misano Grand Prix which will take place on September 15.
In the 7 Grands Prix he contested before Assen this year, his best qualification was eighth place at Le Mans, while he had no top 10 finishes in the race, with an 11th place at Le Mans, two 12ths, two 13th and a retirement.
On the positive side, the Honda is competitive at Silverstone, with the testing record and lap record belonging to Marc Márquez since 2017. Honda has won 41 GPs there – across all categories – ahead of Aprilia (22), Yamaha (18) and Suzuki (9). Jorge, for his part, won in 2010, 2012 and 2013 (still on Yamaha).
According to Jorge Lorenzo, “ It's great to be back with the Repsol Honda team, it's been a long time since Assen. I would have liked to be back sooner, but the nature of the injury meant I had to take my time.”
“Off the track, I have been working hard to be as ready as possible for Silverstone, but I know it will take some time to get back up to speed.”
“I am excited and ready to be part of the team so that we can continue to improve and achieve the expected results ».
Provisional ranking of the World Championship:
Photos © Repsol Media
