Jorge Lorenzo: "We can celebrate like we are kings of the world"

Article from http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2010/Jorge+Lorenzo+World+Champion+interview

Immediately after becoming the 2010 MotoGP World Champion with a third place finish at Sepang on Sunday, Jorge Lorenzo was interviewed exclusively by motogp.com and you can watch the Fiat Yamaha’s reaction to his achievement in the attached video.
Below, you can also read a full transcript of the 23 year-old’s interview, after he became only the second Spanish rider in history to become MotoGP World Champion.
“When you think a lot about something and then it happens, it’s always different from what you expected. It’s a fantastic feeling to know that we are the Champions, the best team, that I am the best rider on the whole planet. For sure it’s only for this year but now we can celebrate it like we are the kings of the world,” said Lorenzo as the scale of his achievement began to sink in.
“I couldn’t feel too much because the tension, the pressure, the physical tiredness didn’t help me much to express my emotions and to feel everything. But this is a moment of glory of which I must enjoy every minute, second and hour, and remember it well.”
On being nervous before his first chance at sealing the title in Sunday’s race in Malaysia, he said: “Yes, I was a little bit, I’m not going to lie! You feel a different kind of nervous from normal races but I’m proud of my start, because it was fine, and also my riding – it was not the best ride of my career but anyway it was good for the situation. I couldn’t fight for the victory with Andrea and Valentino mainly because I had too much to lose and something very, very big to achieve.”
“I tried not to think too much about the points and the Championship, and it being close to happening. But it’s impossible not to think about this. You think, and when you look at the red light you forget everything and only think about the race.”
There were moments of concern for Lorenzo and his team before the start of the race when they encountered a problem with starting the bike. “It was a difficult moment because I thought the bike couldn’t start for the race,” he explained. “We had the other bike ready for wet conditions so we couldn’t use that. Finally we discovered the problem which wasn’t the bike but the (external) starter of the rear wheel, so we took the starter of Valentino and it worked, and we were able to make the race.”
Starting from pole and finishing third in the race, Lorenzo also discussed the avoidance of a potential battle for the race win: “Firstly It was a long time since I got a pole position, the second thing was because we knew that in the race it could be almost impossible to fight for victory. The third thing could be also because I demonstrated that with normal conditions I could keep going very fast.”
Following the thrilling battle with Valentino Rossi in the previous round in Japan, Lorenzo said: “We didn’t speak too much, because they (the team) understood that there were moments of tension and some pressure. If the world title couldn’t happen here in Malaysia it could happen in Australia or the next races, but also there was a possibility of injuring myself. So we had to make the race, make 20 laps, and finish it.”
And of his rival’s reaction to his title success Lorenzo added: “He was good to offer me a hug and I received it. Also on the podium he gave me his hand, he was a gentleman.”
“I want to thank a lot of people but especially my dad, who introduced me to motorcycling and taught me almost everything I knew about bikes. To my mother who loves me a lot, and she has struggled a lot watching my races! Also my sister Laura, all my team, the guys who work every weekend to give me the best bike possible. All my team managers I had in the past, Giampiero Sacchi, Dani Amatriain, and now Lin Jarvis, who is a key person in my career. And of course all my fans – the Spartans who appreciate my good things but also understand my bad things!”
A unique celebration involving computer characters Mario brothers followed Lorenzo’s confirmation as Champion, and he explained the idea behind it.
“In theory we didn’t want to make any celebration because the important thing was the Championship and I didn’t want to eclipse it with a celebration. But in Japan and we got this idea of Mario and Luigi and today, at the last moment, we had the idea of the ‘Game Over’ sign. Everything happened very fast and in the end I think it was a nice celebration. Maybe we can make a ‘Game Over’ t-shirt for the Lorenzo fans in Valencia,” concluded Lorenzo.