Jorge Lorenzo confident in Yamaha future

Jorge Lorenzo has dismissed fears that Valentino Rossi’s influence will see him bombed out of Yamaha’s factory Yamaha at the end of 2010.

World champion Rossi and highly rated Spaniard Lorenzo will partner each in Yamaha’s official factory MotoGP squad for the third successive season in 2010.

It is no secret that Rossi is fiercely opposed to having Lorenzo as his team-mate beyond the end of next season, despite the Italian recently distancing himself from quotes that inferred he would quit if Yamaha insisted on retaining Lorenzo for 2011.

But 22-year-old Lorenzo said: “Valentino is a mythical rider and everything he does is very important and if he is worried about me, as his partner, it is because I am fast and not because I am finishing last. I can’t control what he thinks.

“But maybe I prefer it that Valentino stays in Yamaha because I can try and beat him on the same bike, so for me it is not a problem with our relationship or anything like that.

M”y objective is to try and win the world championship. I don’t care if I am not the leader of the team.”