Jorge Lorenzo claims he was unaware of a coded message sent by Ducati to let team–mate Andrea Dovizioso through in order to keep his MotoGP title hopes alive in the Malaysian Grand Prix.
Lorenzo had been running in the lead of the wet Sepang race when a message appeared on his dash stating ‘suggested mapping eight.’
This was later confirmed as a coded message by Ducati to notify Lorenzo to let team–mate Dovizioso through to allow him to take 25 points – a result, with Marc Marquez fourth, which sees Dovizioso close to within 21 points of the standings lead.
The Spaniard did not adhere to this message, but later revealed that he was so focused on staying upright in the tricky conditions that the first he knew of any message was when his team informed him in parc ferme.
“Honestly, I just see the laps on the board and the difference with the rear tyre, and I didn’t see completely the board because I was really focused to no lose the concentration in the wet,” said Lorenzo.
“I was looking at the rpm and I didn’t see any message.
“You know, I will say if it was true, but I didn’t see. It was just in the parc ferme they told me they put this message.”
Twitter: *THAT* moment where @lorenzo99 lost the #MalaysianGP and @AndreaDovizioso kept the championship dream alive! https://t.co/9MnA0xJMAm (@MotoGP)
While not acknowledging the coded message sent to him, Lorenzo claimed that he did not need to be reminded of the championship situation, and was aware of where Marquez was on circuit relative to Dovizioso.
A mistake at the final corner on lap 16 saw Lorenzo relinquish his lead to his team–mate, and was unable to reclaim lost ground despite his best efforts due to his front tyre being ‘at the limit’.
“I already knew, I didn’t need any people to tell me the situation,” said Lorenzo, whose second at Sepang his is best result of his maiden Ducati campaign.
“I knew the world title was important in case Marquez had a crash or something like that.
“I knew he was maybe fourth or fifth position, and obviously I wanted to win the race, I wanted to keep pushing until the end.
“But the front was very at the limit and to stay with Dovi at the end I needed to be too much on the limit on the braking.
“I wanted to stay with him till the last corner to see if he makes some mistake and went wide into some corners, but wasn’t like that.”
