Lorenzo’s loot
MARC MARQUEZ ANDAndrea
Dovizioso face some sleepless
nightsinthewakeofJorge
Lorenzo’s stunning return
to winning form and 1993
world champ Kevin Schwantz
reckons Lorenzo can make
aseriousplayfortheworld
championship this year.
LorenzowinningthetitleonaDucatibeforedepartingfor
hisHondagignextyearisnow
a realistic scenario.
“J o r g e n o w h a s a c h a n c e a t
thetitlethewayheisriding,he
wassosmoothintheBarcelona
race,hisDucatinevermoved
offline,”Schwantzsaid.“Even
with a 49-point advantage [over
JL], Marquez can do anything
butsleepeasyrightnow,his
future teammate is coming forhimthisyear–onaDucati.
“And as cool and calculating
as Dovi was last season in his
battle with Marquez, he looks a
little ruff led right now.
“Lorenzo’s pace is out of his
control and getting beaten by
your teammate is very hard
to tolerate. Who would have
guessed Dovi would be in this
situation now after winning the
opening race in Qatar?”sport
REPSOL HONDA’S DREAM
team has become a nightmare
for the factory Ducati squad,
even before Jorge Lorenzo
departs to join Marc Marquez
in HRC colours in 2019.
Lorenzo celebrated his shock
move with a dominant surge
to victory in the Catalunya
GP, his second in a row after
his Ducati triumph in the
Italian Grand Prix.
Between them, Marquez
(4) and Lorenzo (3) have won
seven out of the last eight
MotoGP championships since
2010, setting the scene for a
mouth-watering battle on
identical RC213V machinery
next year. Chock full of talent
and bravado, Lorenzo is
unafraid to enter Marquez’s
Honda kingdom and reminded
everyone of his class and
speed with the dominant
victory in Catalunya.
Honda team boss Alberto
Puig admitted he was “verysurprised” by Lorenzo’s late
request for a Honda gig so he
pounced quickly, announcing
thedealinthehazeof
hangovers after Lorenzo’s
Ducati win at Mugello.
Ducati’s decision not to
retain Lorenzo for 2019, and
retain Andrea Dovizioso, has
the potential to haunt them
with the Spanish speedster
nowpilingthepressureonhis
Italianteammate.ButDucati
CorsebossGigiDall’Igna
refusestocontemplatethe
downside of cutting LorenzolooseforHonda’sbenefit
in2019.Moneytalksand
Ducati point-blank refused
to repeat Lorenzo’s huge
salary demands in light of his
delayedreturntotopform.
“Honda is Honda, they
spendmoreorless20million
(Euros a season) for the riders,
somethinglikethis,”Dall’Igna
said. “It is simple, we cannot
dothis.Wehavetobemore
clever than them, to find
another way, we cannot beat
Hondaforthemoney.Wehave
beat them technically.118 amcn.com.au
MotoGPIt looks like Honda’s gain is Ducati’s loss
The curious case of
Jorge and Marc
“But I don’t want to think
this decision for next year.
I want to think about this
season and the performance
of our bike and riders, rather
than what we can do in 2019.
“I think both Dovi and
Jorge can still challenge for
the championship this year.
Dovi has made a couple
mistakes, at Le Mans and
Barcelona, but also Marquez
has done two mistakes in
races for zero points.”
COLIN YOUNG