'Frustrated' Lorenzo to make Malaysia MotoGP race call before FP3

Jorge Lorenzo says he will make a final call on whether he will race at the Malaysian MotoGP on Saturday morning before FP3 after being left downbeat struggling for pace due to his injured left wrist.

The Ducati rider missed last weekend’s Australian round after pulling out of the Japanese race due to the pain from an injured ligament in his left wrist suffered in his hefty crash at Thailand.

Lorenzo flew back to Spain to undergo an operation on his ligament and opted to rush his comeback to be ready to race at Sepang this weekend.

But after Friday’s two practice sessions Lorenzo ended the day bottom of the timesheets and five seconds off pace-setter Alex Rins on the Suzuki.

Wearing a heavily strapped left wrist protector, Lorenzo conceded he may be forced to withdraw from the Malaysian round if the pain from his left wrist doesn’t subside overnight before FP3.

“The situation is difficult because I am frustrated,” Lorenzo said. “I expected, no I wanted, because I knew after one week from the operation I would be like this so I wanted to be here and be much better because this track is good for me and for the bike.

“I arrived here better than in Japan but even if we solve half of the problem and half of the pain I am not able to be very competitive. Tomorrow morning we will decide if it is better that I continue or I’ll lend the bike to Michele [Pirro].”

Lorenzo says he’d only risk racing if he was confident of securing a strong result for Ducati but given his practice pace it seems a tough order given the tight timeframe before FP3.

“If you feel able to make a good result like winning the race, getting on the podium, making the top five or the top ten then it makes sense to take a risk,” he said. “But when you try to push and can only go three seconds slower than the fastest one that it makes no sense to push.

“So tomorrow, depending on how I feel when I wake up, I will feel if I am much or just slightly better or the same.

“When I am riding [the pain] is better than in Japan but obviously not 100%. I would say 65-70%.

“It is worst in the change of direction but luckily here we have just some big change of direction but also on braking it is difficult.”

MotoGP rules state any replacement rider must be officially confirmed two hours before qualifying, which for Sepang will be 13:10 local time. Michele Pirro is at the track as Ducati’s contingency option if Lorenzo is unable to race this weekend.