Ducati rider Jorge Lorenzo arrived in Malaysia a little worse for wear from the nasty fall in the Australian FP3 that saw him arriving at the pit box on crutches on Sunday. He then lined up for the start of the race with bruising and a sprained left ankle.
The Malaysian circuit is one of the few where the Spanish rider has never won in MotoGP but, with the exception of a DNF in 2008, Lorenzo has never been outside the top four place both in qualifying and in the races, twice finishing second and four times third at the flag.
Having to race again so soon after hurting himself isn't the ideal situation, but Jorge has overcome more serious physical challenges, so he is confident that he'll face the weekend with true grit.
"Sepang will be a completely different story to Phillip Island, because it's a circuit that is more suitable for our bike, with two long straights. We must give our maximum in these last two races and finish the season in the best possible way,โ he said. โIt's important to begin the weekend well right from Friday's free practice and demonstrate that now we are much more competitive to what we were in February for the winter tests. I can't wait to get out on track in Malaysia to put the Australian weekend behind us.โ
As for the Sepang circuit, let's just remember that it might be the only track in the championship where the MotoGP motorbikes do not use electronics to cut power, and in almost all the curves the riders can rely on every bit of the exuberant horsepower a modern MotoGP bike has to unleash. It's a very technical, varied track where long corners taken leaning down at a reasonably high speed are alternated with sudden and forceful braking followed by some pretty slow curves.
Malaysia's latitude puts it in a tropical zone and the weather can often be bizarre. Complicating things further, the recent repaving has prompted big challenges in the length of time needed for the new asphalt to dry, despite the fact that temperatures often go well above 30ยฐC.
