Jorge Lorenzo hopeful on hand injury

Last year’s MotoGP world championship runner-up Jorge Lorenzo is hopeful his damaged right hand will not give him serious problems during this weekend’s Qatar clash in Doha.

The 22-year-old claims he’s still short of 100 per cent fitness having badly broken his right thumb in a training crash back in February.

The injury forced Lorenzo to miss the second Sepang test and he rode at the final winter test in Qatar last month with a special carbon protective glove.

The Fiat Yamaha rider said: “This injury is quite difficult for a rider because the right hand is very important.

“I am much better than I was at the test but I’m not at 100 per cent. For sure though I will be able to be a little bit faster than the test.

“Maybe I’m 80 per cent. It is not impossible to think about winning but some other riders have more options than us at the moment.”

Lorenzo revealed to MCN that he’s been undergoing daily physiotherapy for 90 minutes in Barcelona to help speed up his recovery and he added: “I was trying to push the hand to gain some flexibility.

“The problem is when I brake the pressure I have to make with the hand causes me a little bit of pain. We’ll see if I can brake as normal.”