Lorenzo presents new book in Barcelona

Article from http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2011/lorenzo+new+book+presentation

Three years to the day since he won his first premier class MotoGP race (at Estoril) Jorge Lorenzo unveiled his new book titled “Jorge Lorenzo, El nuevo rey de MotoGP” (The new King of MotoGP) in Barcelona on Wednesday, in a presentation hosted by Spanish journalist Ernest Riveras.
Different to the biography published about the 2010 MotoGP World Champion three years ago, his new book recounts his career through the medium of photos, with some 400 having been selected from a collection of more than 1,000. The majority of the photos were taken by renowned photographer Mirco Lazzari, with the BBC’s Matthew Roberts having written the accompanying captions which annotate each picture.
“I think there’s still a lot for my fans to know about me and this book has a lot of images within it that they will never have seen before,” said Lorenzo. “We’ll see in the future if there are more things to recount, I think there will be, and we still have a long time in which we can achieve many more things.”
Fielding questions from eager reporters at the press conference which accompanied the launch of the book, Lorenzo spoke on a range of topics including that of his time alongside Valentino Rossi in the Yamaha box.
“Valentino has been a very important rival in my MotoGP career, a very tough one, but I respect all rivals in the same manner and as equals and I don’t idolise anyone,” said Lorenzo. “All the riders who line up on the starting grid are capable of beating you on any given day. I don’t give any greater or lesser importance to Valentino than I do to any other rider.”
Inevitably Lorenzo was asked for his opinion on the Rossi/Stoner incident which was a major talking point following the Jerez race. “When you’re on a bike the adrenaline is flowing at its maximum, and for Stoner it was all going great – victory in Qatar and pole at Jerez,” observed Lorenzo. “He was at the head of the race when he went down, taken down by another rider. If that happens to be Valentino and he’s someone you don’t like much, as is the case with Stoner, it bothers you more. It was in the heat of the moment and you can forgive what he did. It was a human error from Valentino. Perhaps he was too fired up because he saw a possibility… he was more fired up than normal, and that’s why he crashed.”
Currently leading the Championship after two rounds thanks to second place in Qatar and victory at Jerez, Lorenzo commented: “The season is long and hard, very complicated, but then nobody was expecting us to take first position at Jerez, or second in Qatar, but we were there. We stayed on the bike, which was complicated, because in these two races we had to push at the maximum, but so far everything’s gone without a hitch.”
Lorenzo then revealed that there is the possibility he may try a new M1 engine on the Factory Yamaha Racing prototype at the official Test, which immediately follows the next round at Estoril. “It’s a different engine, we’ll see if it’s better, the same or worse.”
The Spaniard then discussed the 2012 version of the M1, which he will try out for the first time following the Mugello round in early July. “It will be a little bit bigger, with more power, and I hope it will have the characteristics that have always been associated with a Yamaha: great in braking and through the turns,” he stated. “And we hope to see a little change in the engine, so that it has more power than a Yamaha normally has – that’d be something I’d be grateful of, although we already know that the perfect bike does not exist.”
Asked what he had contributed to the new prototype currently under development for next year, Lorenzo said: “I’m not an engineer, I barely know how to take off a wheel, I only know how to go as fast as I can on a bike. I consider myself to be a sensible rider who through the passage of time and with the experience I’ve collected is able to give indications which are more or less correct. I think it’s based on these indications that the new 1,000cc bike is being made.”
“Jorge Lorenzo, El nuevo rey de MotoGP”, published by Libros Cúpula (Planeta), is now on sale in Spain and will also be available in the UK and USA shortly.