Jorge Lorenzo has prepared for this weekend’s 2019 MotoGP season opener with a “scary” Qatari adventure. It happened in Dakar Rally champion Nasser Al-Attiyah’s self-made buggy.
Spaniard Lorenzo switched from Ducati to Repsol Honda in the off season with five-time champion and compatriot Marc Márquez his new team colleague
The first race of the season will take place on Sunday at the Losail Circuit. Lorenzo took time out of his preparations to join Al-Attiyah on the sand dunes of his home country.
The 48-year-old is coming off the back of his stellar third Dakar Rally win in January. He won by over 46 minutes with Sébastien Loeb in third place.
Al-Attiyah, who has also won Olympic bronze in the 2012 London skeet shooting event, took Lorenzo out in his self-made buggy including some cool wheelies.
Lorenzo, 31, revealed:
“It was funny, scary and it gave me a lot of curiosity to ask him about the car, the rally and the preparation with such warm temperatures in the races. We had some great hours and my heart was pumping a lot when he was wheeling the car. I thought it was not possible to do wheelies in the car!”
Doha native Al-Attiyah added:
“It is funny to see how an athlete that rides at 340 km/h wearing only thin leathers can be so impressed when we wheelied. But it reminds me of when I once did a tandem ride around Losail on a two-seater MotoGP and I got just as out of my comfort zone as Jorge did today.”
Wheelie practice with @AlAttiyahN before #QatarGP. And this is only the teaser. @redbull @MotoGP #redbullmotorsports pic.twitter.com/1KoBgbtO3l
— Jorge Lorenzo (@lorenzo99) March 8, 2019
