Jorge Lorenzo returned to strengthen Yamaha in MotoGP 2020. He was officially contracted to become a test driver for the tuning fork team.
‘Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd. and Yamaha Motor Racing are proud to announce, five-time world champion and the highly successful Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo will strengthen the Yamaha Factory Racing Test Team for the 2020 season,’ the release received 7up Sports, Thursday (1/30/2020).
The news of Lorenzo’s return to Yamaha as a test rider occurred less than 24 hours after the Japanese manufacturer announced the arrival of Fabio Quartararo as a substitute for Valentino Rossi in the 2021 season. Yamaha the day before had also extended the Maverick Vinales contract for the period 2021-2022.
Lorenzo last season decided to end his MotoGP career. He retired after performing very poorly at Repsol Honda, with failure despite finishing in the top 10 in the 13 races that followed.
Yamaha is certainly not a foreign team for the 32-year-old Spanish rider. With Yamaha, Lorenzo began his career in the MotoGP event in the 2008 season. Winning three MotoGP world champions there, he then moved to Ducati in 2017 and then strengthened the Repsol Honda in 2019.
Lorenzo will immediately launch his Yamaha motorcycle on the MotoGP shakedown test, at the Sepang Circuit, Malaysia 2-4 February riding YZR-M1. Yamaha also ensured Lorenzo would appear on the IRTA Test and several Yamaha private tests throughout 2020.
Lorenzo’s presence is expected to help Yamaha engineers develop a capable racing motorbike to compete in the 2020 season.
