Jorge Lorenzo disappointed to lose second in Indy

Jorge Lorenzo admitted victory at the iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway might have been an impossible task given the red-hot form of world championship leader Marc Marquez, but the reigning champion was bitterly disappointed not to claim second.

Lorenzo led until the halfway stage before Marquez began his charge towards a fourth win of 2013 and third in succession to open up a 21-point lead over Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa.

Lorenzo though slipped 35-points behind Marquez after he could not keep Pedrosa at bay in the closing laps, the double MotoGP world champion struck by a sudden loss in rear grip with five laps remaining.

Lorenzo said he had never experienced such a rapid loss in grip in all of his MotoGP career and he told MCN: “When Marc passed me I remained for four laps quite fast but then the rear tyre started to drop but in a big, big way. And then suddenly five laps before the end it made another big drop and I had to reduce my speed a lot, especially in the right corners. It was unbelievable and I don’t know what happened.

Maybe I pushed too much at the beginning to fight with the Hondas. I’m disappointed not because I didn’t win the race, this was almost impossible, but because I lost second place which was virtually assured for me. All I could do was try and finish and not crash to get as many points as possible.”

For eight pages of MotoGP news, see the August 21 issue of MCN.