- 2019-11-15
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Donate to support families affected by the crisis in Ukraine ➔ Jorge Lorenzo Announces Retirement From MotoGP
5-time World Champion Jorge Lorenzo (Repsol Honda) announced his retirement from MotoGP on November 14th. Next race Valencia GP, which is his final race.
During a special press conference at the circuit on Thursday afternoon, he confirmed that he will not serve the second year of his Repsol Honda contract.
After leaving Yamaha, he struggled to win due to several serious injuries. He was injured his arm in Ducati career. After moving to Honda, he had a wrist fracture during winter training. In June 2019, he crashed at Barcelona, taking out three riders in one corner as he fell. Also he had a serious test crash at the same track. Followed by, he fractured his back at Assen, which was the most serious crash of his career and forced him to sit out several races.
"I've always thought there are four significant days in the life of a rider; your first race, first win, first world championship, and then the day you retire," Jorge Lorenzo said. "As you all imagined, I'm here to announce that this day has arrived for me. This will be my last race in MotoGP. I first thought about retirement after the injury at Assen, making my final decision after Malaysia."
Jorge Lorenzo debuted GP 125cc class in 2002. He got 250cc class World Champion in 2006 and 2007 as Aprilia rider.
He made a step up to MotoGP class and moved to Yamaha in 2008. He got MotoGP class World Champion in 2010, 2012 and 2015.
He made deal two years contract with Ducati in 2017. He won 2018's Italian GP, Catalan GP and Austrian GP.
In 2019, he switched Honda and made deal two years contract with Japanese factory, but he announced his retirement in November.
He recorded 5 times World Champion with a total of 68 wins and 69 pole positions.- source : MotoGP
