With MotoGp into its pre season testing stage it is interesting to see that Jorge Lorenzo seems to have gone back to the mode of his debut year where he threw caution to the wind and in effect destroyed not only his season but also a lot of his credibility with a series of needless crashes and injuries.... Last year he seemed to have settled down a bit, with the resulting improvement in both results and cred.
However this year he has already started throwing himself about with an injury whilst he was training near Barcelona when he suffered a fall from a Moto X bike....... he was diagnosed with a fracture at the base of the first metacarpal and a displaced thumb that has required surgery. Surgeons have made an open reduction and osteosynthesis with a small titanium plate, and Lorenzo will require hand protection for four to six weeks.
Although Lorenzo has now left hospital, the proximity of the next MotoGP test, to be held in Malaysia in two weeks time, means he will be forced to sit on the sidelines.
While he is scheduled to be back on the Fiat Yamaha in time for the Qatar test in March, the limited amount of mileage permitted pre-season is now destined to leave Lorenzo on the back foot compared to team-mate Valentino Rossi and arch-rivals Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa.
Rossi and Lorenzo.... No Data sharing.
Rossi and Lorenzo incidentally have seemingly widened their split..... last year the two riders had a wall between their two pit spaces. This year the team have confirmed that in addition to the wall the two will share zero data and each will operate almost as seperate teams. This missing of testing for Lorenzo mentioned above would be quite a blow given that developments Rossi makes in the tests wont be shared with Lorenzo....
It seems Lorenzo is not totally happy with the situation, so one would have to believe that the initiative came from Rossi. Its all very different to the set up at the satellite Tech 3 Yamaha Team, which boasts of an 'open' relationship between Tech 3 riders Colin Edwards and Ben Spies. “If Ben's got any questions or queries then he can come and ask me anything he wants. I'm open to it,” said Edwards. “This team thing, about always wanting to beat your team-mate, I've never thought that way. There are 15 other guys out there I want to beat more than my team-mate.”
The Rossi Lorenzo relationship is sure to be interesting through the year....
Hayden surgery wont stop him testing.
Other MotoGP riders to go under the knife are Hayden, who had a recurrence of an old injury during the recent Sepang tests..... Nicky went under the knife immediately after the recent MotoGP test in Sepang, Hayden visiting a specialist clinic in Madrid to remove scar tissue from an earlier operation.
However in Nicky's case the op is not going to get in the way of his preparations and he will participate in the next round of MotoGP tests back at Malaysia in two weeks time.
