MotoGP: Lorenzo confirms the wild card ride at Catalunya, as expected

So who said that this was going to happen and that Jorge was itching to get back to a MotoGP race then? Oh yeah… that’s right. And it’s happened.

Speaking on his social media channel, the former World Champ clearly can’t resist any more and after a couple of very positive, and quick, tests on the Yamaha M1 2020 bike he’s coming back to the light with a racing return at Barcelona.

It’s not a surprise, this has long been on the cards since the first rumour of a return after officially retiring last year, then he announced he was coming back to MotoGP as a test rider with Yamaha , that was followed-up with the second-quickest time during his first day at Sepang, a pledge to be even faster and then, responding to calls for him to do a wild card appearance at this home round of Catalunya, saying: “A wild card ride? Why not?”.

After the Sepang tests, Lorenzo said: “As for the wild card, I still can’t say much. We will see in the future. If I am competitive and I can take advantage of the opportunity then why not? I will do the wild card if I have the certainty of ending up in a position that matters, otherwise it’s useless to do it.” So he clearly reckons he can be somewhere near the front during the race. An added bonus for Lorenzo at this round is the fact that there’s even more MotoGP testing scheduled immediately after race day in Spain, so he can continue upping his pace, or problem-solving, if needed.

And this is just the start. Alongside the much-paddock-talk about the wild card possibility (which has been going on since early January), was the openly-discussed possibility of Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi joining up in a factory-supported squad in 2021. The season when Rossi will no longer be in the official factory Petronas squad, replaced instead by quick youth Fabio Qaurtararo.

No news on that yet, but things are definitely moving in the right direction for such a thing to be very seriously talked about soon (if they haven’t been already).