MotoGP, Jorge Lorenzo: “maybe I'll do like Rossi, race until I'm 40”.

Jorge Lorenzo has been involved in motorcycling since the age of 3. He is now 31, so that based on the number of cumulative years of service alone, he is closer to the end of his career than when he started. Which also means that the prospect of retirement is becoming less and less vague. An idea that events almost imposed on him. If it wasn't the injuries, it was the lack of results that put him in the hot seat. But since he signed with Honda, asserting his pension rights is no longer urgent…

Jorge Lorenzo is preparing to face his twelfth season in MotoGP, and his eighteenth in the World Championship. This with the aim of conquering a sixth absolute crown. This will not be a foregone conclusion on a Honda which will require work and patience before being able to claim to understand and master it. You will have to change your driving style. A real challenge, the second in two years after leaving Yamaha for Ducati.

At the age of 31, he is one of the most experienced drivers in the paddock. Nine years on the Yamaha and two more with the Desmosedici. The future is now called Honda. On this exhaustive summary of an already busy career, he comments: “  I've been flying since I was three years old, I've done a lot of traveling. I have ridden on many circuits and suffered many injuries. I had good results, but I also had very difficult times "

The calendar has increased from 18 to 19 races. There will soon be 20. With the addition of the commercial events which are the corollaries of the meetings, we cannot underestimate the exhaustion that a full season of MotoGP entails.

Lorenzo has already thought about leaving the stage. After the 2008 world championship, he decided to stop after a series of accidents: in China, he broke both ankles, in Catalonia, he received a blow to the head, causing memory loss momentary, and at Laguna Seca he had suffered another bad fall. But Por Fuera had the courage to continue and he was rewarded. In 2018, it was his lack of results on the Ducati that showed him the exit door. According to his own admission, at Le Mans, the rest of his career was off to a bad start. Then there was the Mugello rebound.

And now ? until 2020 he has a contract with HRC. What happens next will depend on the results: » maybe I'll do like Valentino and even run at 40. He is an impressive example for us and for young drivers. You never know what will happen  » he said in an interview with Motogp.com relayed by Motoracing. The Majorcan will also have to keep his passion intact in the face of a Marc Marquez which will not fail to put him to the test...