JORGE Lorenzo clinched the MotoGP world championship after rival Dani Pedrosa crashed on the second lap at the recent Australian MotoGP held at Phillip Island, ending a chance to catch his fellow Spaniard in the final two races of the season. Saying he felt “liberated” after winning a fierce season-long battle with the powerful Repsol Honda team, Lorenzo took his Yamaha to victory and claimed his second premier class title.

However, it was home hero Casey Stoner, who is set to retire at season’s end, who won the Australian MotoGP—his sixth-straight—with Lorenzo coming home in second place to claim the main title. Lorenzo only had to avoid a mistake to carry off the victory after Stoner’s Repsol Honda teammate Pedrosa crashed out.

Lorenzo led Pedrosa by 23 points going into the penultimate Phillip Island round and just needed to finish three points more than his compatriot to seal the world title ahead of the final race in Valencia on November 11. He said this season’s title had been more of a challenge than his first MotoGP championship two years ago because of the two-pronged Repsol Honda threat of Pedrosa and Stoner.

“It’s been a big emotion,” Lorenzo said. “This year has been tougher than my first world title [2010] because I knew my competitors were stronger and more consistent this year, and I knew I had to be more consistent than them.”

Lorenzo, who will now return home for the final race of the season with no extra pressure, said he had learned the hard way how to succeed in the class.

“When I first came into MotoGP I needed to learn from my mistakes, know my limits and try not to go over the limit. So for this reason I am very proud of my evolution and so very grateful to my team,” he said. “I feel emotional for the toughness and the hard competition. I needed to be strong and really focused. I now feel liberated of the weight off my shoulders.”

Phillip Island was bittersweet for Lorenzo—he did not start in 2011 after coming off his bike in the race warm-up, severing the top of the ring finger on his left hand.

“Last year here was one of the worst moments in my career, the most scary one when I had this injured finger, but one year later I can celebrate my second world MotoGP title,” he said. “This season was not easy, that was why I had to be very focused, consistent and very quick. And I had to take a lot of risks. Also, my Yamaha is a much better bike than last year.”

Next year, Lorenzo will be paired anew with nine-time (seven in the premier class) MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi, who is set to leave Ducati at the end of the year after a couple of seasons that produced only two podium finishes. Rossi won four world titles with Yamaha.

Retirement
Stoner maintained he would not be changing his mind about retirement at the end of this season, at the age of 27.

“There’s definitely some aspects of my racing that I’m going to miss for sure and I have so much respect for Jorge and Dani and we’ve been challenging and fighting each other for so many years,” he said. “When I announced my retirement I said that the sport would have to make dramatic changes for me to even consider coming back. I can never say ‘never,’ but honestly I have no thoughts whatsoever at this time of even thinking of coming back. So nope, sorry.”

The Aussie race was a remarkable victory for Stoner, who is not long back from surgery on torn ligaments and fractures to his ankle, tibia and fibula he suffered in a crash during qualifying for the Indianapolis MotoGP in mid-August.