Lorenzo: I felt like King of the world for two months with Ducati

Jorge Lorenzo says he has to reflect on his two-year Ducati spell with sadness after failing to achieve his goal of becoming MotoGP world champion but feels plenty of positives can be looked back on including a two-month period earlier this season when he felt like “the King of the world”.

The Spanish rider has ended his time with Ducati with an underwhelming 12th place at the Valencia MotoGP having battled both the treacherous rainy conditions and his recently-operated left wrist.

With the 2018 finale marking his last race for Ducati ahead of his Repol Honda move, Lorenzo looked back at his two years with the Italian manufacturer to take in both the highs and lows.

While he was disappointed not to achieve “the real challenge” of becoming Ducati’s first world champion since Casey Stoner in 2007, he feels he can leave with a sense of accomplishment having helped Ducati to make “the most complete” bike on the grid along with his a purple patch of results over the summer rounds.

“The first victory [at Mugello] has been the special one as it was in Italy with an Italian bike, I just missed being Italian, but at least I was Latin,” Lorenzo said. “It was very special as it arrived after one-and-a-half years of struggling.

“It was very special and at the next race we repeated it at Montmelo with lots of disadvantages, then second in Brno and then first in Austria fighting with Marc.

“For two months we were the best ones and I felt like the King of the world.

“Only bad luck avoided us getting more podiums and victories. It was unlucky but these things can happen in MotoGP because it is a risky sport. I had perfect years and very difficult years like this one but at least we demonstrated that I could manage the bike and ride it very quickly. As I said before we made the GP18 the most complete bike and we should be very proud with what we did.”

Lorenzo also remains stern that with more seasons at Ducati he could have challenged for the MotoGP world title given the Italian factory’s current bike. 

With Andrea Dovizioso taking victory in Valencia, 2018 marks the team’s most successful season in terms of wins and championship position since the title-winning 2007 campaign.

“You have to be sad because the real challenge, the important challenge, trying to win championship like Casey did in 2007 is not done,” he said. “I think we had the potential to do it.

“Probably if we had more time together we could try. I’m sure if I kept with the team I would be competitive in the first race and not like this year but this will not be possible.”

Lorenzo will make his Repsol Honda debut at the two-day post-season Valencia test later this week.