Zoom Jorge Lorenzo

Jorge Lorenzo was disappointed to miss out on the podium at Phillip Island, despite prevailing in a race-long battle for fourth place.

Lorenzo started from second on the grid but he did not quite have the outstanding rhythm he had in practice and he slipped to fourth on lap one.

He then traded places with Tech 3 Yamaha rider James Toseland a couple of times before settling in behind the Briton as Rossi loomed behind. By lap 13 of 27 Lorenzo's world champion team-mate had dispatched his Yamaha compatriots and was disappearing off and it then became a battle for fourth between the Spaniard, Toseland, Andrea Dovizioso and Shinya Nakano with the foursome trading passes at times more reminiscent of a 125cc race.

In the last few laps Lorenzo was able to take control of proceedings somewhat and he was able to hang on to fourth, just ahead of Nakano with Toseland in sixth.

“I'm not very happy with the race because I know I should have been able to fight for the podium today. I didn't ride like I know I can, Toseland was in front of me many times and I couldn't pass him, and then I couldn't follow Valentino when he came through. I think I had the rhythm to have been with Valentino but it didn't work today”, he said. “Even though it's mathematically still possible, I think that the second and third places in the championship are probably lost to me now. I think that the most important thing now is to get good results in Malaysia and Valencia so that we finish the season in the right way. The team, the tyres and the bike are all working well, we're getting good results but we know they can be better. I like Malaysia a lot, I rode there in the winter and I think it will be good for Michelin, so I'm looking forward to it.”

“We're a bit disappointed about today's result because we definitely had the potential to be on the podium and that's what we were hoping for”, ajoutait son team manager Daniele Romagnoli. “We had a few more problems than yesterday with grip in the rear and in the hard braking areas we weren't as good as the others, so we suffered for this. Aside from this it was a good race and Jorge had a great battle for fourth, so despite the result we've enjoyed it and now we're looking forward to the next one.”

The rookie is 27 points off third in the championship and also has a mathematical chance of second, with two rounds remaining. The next battle comes in two week's time at Sepang in Malaysia.

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