Motegi MotoGP: Jorge Lorenzo concedes title hopes fading

Jorge Lorenzo has admitted his MotoGP crown is slipping away as he attempts the tricky mission of trying to claw back a huge 44-point deficit on dominant Repsol Honda rider Casey Stoner with just four races remaining.

The Spaniard has only won three out of the opening 14 races in 2011 and he goes into this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix wary that Yamaha’s factory YZR-M1 might struggle to beat Honda’s RC212V machine at the Twin Ring Motegi.

The circuit is dominated by hard acceleration points, which is one weakness of the Yamaha package, and Lorenzo said he expected a difficult challenge having finished only fourth in last year’s race after an epic battle with Valentino Rossi.

He said: “Normally it is a difficult track for us because there is a lot of acceleration and long straights but we come here with the motivation to win. Casey has won more races and it is normal that he has so many points and maybe it is too late to try and beat him for the championship.

“There are still four races left and we will try to the end because there are still 100-points to play for, so you never know. We must keep the motivation and think that everything is possible.”