Lorenzo looking to close the championship gap on Stoner’s home track
Yamaha Factory Racing is embarking on the final fly away of the season, a gruelling double header kicking off with Phillip Island this weekend and followed by Sepang a week later. The stunningly beautiful Phillip Island circuit with its sweeping and flowing nature has a reputation for unpredictable weather, providing challenging conditions including heavy rain, cold temperatures and high winds for the MotoGP riders to overcome. Reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo can claim two 250cc Grand Prix victories and one MotoGP second place podium at the track last year. The Mallorcan will be looking for any opportunity to close the current 40 point gap to Championship leader Casey Stoner with just three races remaining of the season.
Jorge Lorenzo: “I am now heading to Australia after a few days of training in Indonesia. I’m looking forward to riding at the Phillip Island circuit, one of my favourite and probably the most beautiful track we race on. After the race in Japan, where we had a positive result, we are really determined to be on the podium again. We know it’s not going to be easy because Casey is usually invincible on his home track, but I will try my best and won’t give up!”
Wilco Zeelenberg: “It’s always difficult with big fly aways overseas so it will be a tiring event for us. Casey is really fast at Phillip Island but if we can find our winning set up quickly then hopefully we can be up there. It will be difficult but we’ll give it our best shot as always. Jorge likes the track and Japan showed us that anything can happen during a race so we won’t give up until the end.”
Massimo Meregalli: “Phillip Island is a very special circuit, I think it could be a good one for us knowing our bike. I know that both riders really like riding there which is positive. Usually the Phillip Island race is characterised by unpredictable weather, it will be quite cold but hopefully dry otherwise it’s going to be a difficult weekend.”
Source: Yamaha MotoGP
