Jorge Lorenzo revealed that a problem with his crash helmet left him to ride the closing laps with impaired vision at Losail, causing him to drop to fourth. The Spaniard fought for the lead with Andrea Dovizioso for lap after lap until the protective foam inside his helmet inexplicably came loose, an issue Lorenzo feels denied him a shot at the top step of the podium.
“I was feeling better and better, but suddenly there was something wrong when in the top part of the helmet the foam came loose and came down so I lost half of my vision. I couldn‘t see the corners very well and couldn‘t concentrate or ride like before and I was losing half a second or more per lap. In a race where, at minimum I could fight for the win, I finished fourth.”
Despite the issue, Jorge congratulated his Movistar Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi and admitted the Italian would have been tough to beat even if he had been seeing clearly.
“It was a difficult race. After the first lap, I found myself in second place and I followed Dovizioso. I was faster and I passed him where I could in the fast corners. On the speed and in braking the Ducati was much stronger than our bike, but we could recover on corner speed while the acceleration was similar. To be honest, I thought that I could win the race, though it surely wasn‘t going to be easy, because Valentino had a very strong pace at the end of the race.”
