Jorge Lorenzo takes ninth place in Austin

Jorge Lorenzo was classified ninth in the GP of the Americas, the third round of the MotoGP World Championship which was held on Sunday at COTA, the Texan circuit on the outskirts of Austin.

Lorenzo, who started from the second row with sixth quickest time, was sixth at the end of lap 1 but was then passed by Dovizioso on the following lap. The Spanish rider kept the same position until lap 18, but was then passed by Iannone and Petrucci towards the end of the race and he finished in ninth place.

The MotoGP World Championship will be back in action on the weekend of 5-7 May at Jerez de la Frontera, for the first European round of the 2017 season.

Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team #99) – 9th
“All in all, the race went better than I expected, at least regarding my pace over practice and qualifying. For sure we cannot be satisfied with the final position, because our target is certainly much higher, but in feeling and pace we made a small step forward in this race. It all went more or less how I expected until the front tyre began to have some graining and I lost touch with Dovizioso. Without this problem, I think I could have finished the race right behind him but the situation got worse over the last few laps and both Iannone and Petrucci passed me, so I lost out on seventh right at the end.”