MotoGP | Jorge Lorenzo, “Rossi and I want the same thing, a winning Yamaha”

Monster Yamaha MotoGP – Jorge Lorenzo was one of Valentino Rossi's bitterest rivals. The two raced together in MotoGP and in 2015 there was the peak of the "clash", when Lorenzo and Marquez were accused of "biscuit" for having caused the "Doctor" to lose the world championship (at least according to some, ed.).

After racing two years in Ducati and one with Honda and announcing his retirement at the end of 2019, the doors of Yamaha have "reopened" for Lorenzo. The Majorcan has in fact been hired as a luxury test driver and this also means being close to his former rival, Valentino Rossi. In an interview with Simon Patterson of The-race.com he spoke about the relationship with Rossi and his new role.

Jorge Lorenzo statements on Valentino Rossi

“It's very difficult to be friends with a direct competitor, especially when we all want to win in MotoGP and there's the 'killer' instinct. Marc has it (Marquez, ed.), Valentino (Rossi, ed.) has it just as I had it. We all want to win and never want to give anything to others. This makes it difficult to communicate, spend time together, or feel empathy for each other. You don't hate them, but you want them to go as slowly as possible and you want to beat them every time.

When something as emotional happens as in Sepang in 2015, the friction causes a fire and the relationship gets worse. I have always maintained that the best relationship was when Valentino and I were apart, when he was in Ducati or when I was in Ducati, but now we are closer than ever, perhaps because our common interest is to see the team win. Yamaha.”

Jorge Lorenzo statements on Fabio Quartararo

“If you know Fabio as a person, you know that he never argues with anyone and always smiles. He changes a lot when he is in race mode and becomes very “electric” with a lot of energy, but when he takes off his helmet he is a very nice guy. It will be difficult for anyone not to like him: he is very easy to love. Now I really want to see Valentino, Maverick (Vinales, ed.) and Fabio win. We hope that Franco Morbidelli (ed) can also take the last step."