Lorenzo: Ducati offers scope to make “more history” than Yamaha

Despite his eight-year stint with the Japanese manufacturer – which becomes nine through 2016 – the Spaniard will join Ducati at the end of the season.

He admitted that his three titles with Yamaha means his motivation to win more was in danger of dipping, despite declaring that he would be “thinking in blue” to win his fourth title this year.

“With Yamaha, a championship is a championship,” said Lorenzo. “To win with Ducati, that just Casey [Stoner] has done before, you can do more history. This could be one part of my new challenge.”

Speaking about his new challenge in the press conference ahead of this weekend’s Spanish MotoGP race, Lorenzo gave his reasons for the upcoming switch.

“There are many reasons, the biggest one has been my motivation,” he said. “The challenge to try to win with another bike, and the challenge for me after so many years in MotoGP to give my maximum effort every day.

“I felt that I needed this new challenge. My romantic idea was to stay with Yamaha for my whole career. Now that’s not possible. The motivation is the main reason I made the change.

“I feel very grateful to Yamaha with all these years, especially with Lin [Jarvis, team boss] – they signed me when I was 18 years old. Without Yamaha, I wouldn’t be a three-time champion in MotoGP.”

He denied that his status within the team had anything to do with him leaving to join Ducati, where he is certain to be its number one rider.

“I was never worried being number one or number two at Yamaha,” he said. “For me, it was enough to have exactly the same chance as my partner, as I believe in my potential.”

"More power" in bike development

Lorenzo also stated that Ducati’s way of working could help him tailor his bike to his individual needs, rather than share development with Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi.

“Ducati could be a different philosophy [to Yamaha],” he added. “In the future I will have more power to create more the bike I want to ride. They will hear me with more focus.”

Lorenzo said talk of his 2016 will not affect his performance on the bike this weekend at Jerez.

“If you don’t have your mind focused on a MotoGP bike it can be even dangerous, so we have to be focused,” he said. “My future is resolved, but it’s very far away to think about next year.”