Jorge Lorenzo

Jorge Lorenzo is a Spanish motorcycle rider currently riding for the Ducati team. The prolific Spaniard has three MotoGP Riders’ Championships to his name and two 250cc World Championships.

125cc and 250cc Class

Lorenzo entered the 125cc championship in 2004 and continued in the same category for the next two years without championship gold. His foray into the 250cc class came in 2005, and the Spaniard secured his first championship the very next year in 2006. Driving for Fortuna Aprilia, Lorenzo successfully defended his championship the following year before moving to the MotoGP class.

MotoGP Class

Lorenzo secured a ride with the Yamaha Factory Team in 2008 alongside Valentino Rossi, and the Spaniard tasted his first victory in the third race of his debut season. Lorenzo dominated the Portuguese Grand Prix by taking the pole and the win while also setting the fastest lap of the race. However, that was his last victory of the season, which ensured that he would finish the season in fourth place. The next season saw the Spaniard improve his performances and finish the championship second, 45 points behind his teammate Valentino Rossi.

Jorge Lorenzo showed his class in the 2010 season when he took his first MotoGP World Championship by finishing on the podium in all but two races. The Spaniard repeated the feat in 2012, when he finished no less than second in all the races that he managed to cross the line, and won the championship by 18 points.

With Marquez’s thunderous arrival to the MotoGP class in 2013, Jorge Lorenzo had to wait until the 2015 season to win his third Riders’ Championship, which witnessed an intense battle between the teammates throughout the calendar year. Lorenzo finally took the championship by winning the final race of the season in Valencia. He finished the season only five points ahead of Valentino Rossi.

After another successful year with the Yamaha team that saw him finish third in the championship, Lorenzo made a switch to the Ducati. However, his switch to the Ducati Team turned out to be a disaster as the Spaniard could not even secure a single victory in the 2017 MotoGP season, contrary to his teammate Dovizioso. 2018 has been marginally better for Lorenzo but still has not captured the form that he had exhibited with Yamaha in the earlier years.

The Spaniard would be leaving the Italian team to join Repsol Honda in 2019 to partner with the current World Champion Marc Marquez.