The Valencia GP will mark the five-time MotoGP World Championship’s final race as the 32-year-old announced his retirement ahead of his 297th Grand Prix start.
After 18 years at the highest level, Jorge Lorenzo today announced his retirement from the race leading up to the Valencia GP. With five world championships, 152 podiums, 68 wins, 69 poles and 37 fastest laps, Lorenzo can look back on one of the most impressive and consistent careers in Grand Prix racing. After a bruise campaign in 2019, Lorenzo has decided to retire from his Grand Prix career.
Jorge Lorenzo made his debut at the Spanish Grand Prix in 2002 on the second day of training on his 15th birthday and has spent his entire life racing. A first Grand Prix victory came a little more than a year later with his famous “Por Fuera” train in Rio de Janeiro in 2003. After a total of four victories in the 125cc class, “The Spartan” switched to the 250cc championship and Soon returning to the-to-back title in 2006 and 2007, his buttery smooth style that is perfect for intermediate grades. Due to his impressive consistency, he achieved 29 podiums in three years, including 17 victories, and secured a place in the MotoGP class.
Lorenzo’s start in the premier class was nothing short of astonishing as he took three pole positions in a row and converted them into three podiums in a row, including a first win in his third MotoGP race. Though some severe falls would halt his title challenge, Lorenzo established himself as the star of the future as he finished his debut season in fourth place.
In 2009, the soon-to-be world champion never finished a race below fourth place and Lorenzo continued this consistency until 2010 and a first MotoGP world championship. Lorenzo finished all 18 World Championship rounds in the top four, just two times off the podium, and showed a dominant performance to take his first of three premier-class crowns. With 383 points, Lorenzo set a new record for points in the premier class – a record that would last almost a decade. The championship was Spain’s second in the premier class, with Alex Criville the only Spanish driver to have won before.
In 2011, Jorge Lorenzo went head to toe with Casey Stoner, with the pair winning throughout the season. Unfortunately, an injury in Australia forced Lorenzo to miss the final three races of the season – his efforts over the year were still enough to secure him second place in the championship with an impressive 260 points. There was no stopping Lorenzo in 2012 as he scored three wins in the first five races and only missed the first two steps on the podium once in the first 17 races. Again his consistency was unsurpassed and Lorenzo marched to a fourth world championship, his second in the premier class. His last World Cup was in 2015 when he overcame a seasonal challenge from Marc Marquez and Valentino Rossi to take the title in the final round in Valencia.
After conquering three championships, Lorenzo made the decision to change manufacturers. In two years he took seven podiums and three wins and joined a prestigious drivers club to beat two different manufacturers.
Jorge Lorenzo took on a new challenge for 2019 and joined the Repsol Honda team to become the first rider to win three different manufacturers in MotoGP. Unfortunately, the native Mallorca missed most of the tests after a training accident in the preseason and spent the opening races playing catch-up. Despite constant improvements on board the Honda RC213V, Lorenzo suffered fractures on his T6 and T8 vertebrae in a serious accident at Assen, which left him excluded from four Grand Prix and affected him on his return.
Lorenzo leaves the MotoGP World Championship with a number of incredible achievements, including: the second highest podium in the premier class (114), the second highest number of pole positions in all classes (69), the fifth most successful rider in terms of wins in the The premier class (47) and the third highest point counter of all time (2896) in the premier class.
The Repsol Honda Team wishes Jorge Lorenzo all the best for his future.