Jorge Lorenzo to take part in Qatar Test

Jorge Lorenzo’s pre-season preparations will continue in Qatar this week, after it was confirmed that he will take part in the final official pre-season test, which is scheduled for Thursday 18th and Friday 19th March.

The 22 year-old broke a bone in his right thumb during a training accident four weeks ago and was unable to take part in the second test at Sepang at the end of February, but he has now been given the all-clear by his doctor to again ride his M1 machine after recuperating at his home in Barcelona.

Lorenzo’s recovery has gone well and his hand is no longer swollen, although physiotherapy will continue in order to keep repairing the muscle around the break. The Spanish rider’s doctor has confirmed there is no risk to the broken bone from riding, but that he will need to wait until testing starts in order to find out if he will be able to ride and use the brake at full strength.

“Today we are leaving for Qatar for the last winter test,” said Lorenzo. “I think that it is important that we are there. The fracture happened less than five weeks ago, but we could not have missed this last test because it would have been negative for our preparation; we are not far from the first race of the season! The doctor has made a special carbon fibre protection and Dainese have modified my glove, in order to further protect the fracture, so we will see how we get on.”

Lorenzo’s Team Manager, Wilco Zeelenberg, said: “We are happy that Jorge will be back for this last pre-season test at Qatar! Of course we have had to miss a whole test but we are confident that we can make up for lost time because the 2010 bike proved to be very competitive the first time we used it. We will have to wait to see how Jorge's hand feels when he starts riding, but we do not take anything for granted. Yamaha will give him all the support and time he needs to return to full strength.”