until Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League
Jorge Lorenzo will return to MotoGP action at the Catalan Grand Prix, making his first wildcard appearance for Yamaha in his new role as a test rider for the manufacturer.
Chances of a wildcard ride have been speculated about since Lorenzo announced his return to Yamaha in a test rider capacity for this year following his retirement at the end of 2019.
Speaking briefly in a video on his social media profile on Thursday afternoon, Lorenzo said: “After some weeks thinking about it, yesterday I decided I’m going to participate in the Catalan Grand Prix. I’m really looking forward to it and I hope to see you there.”
Lorenzo already hinted at the potential for a wildcard appearance when he spoke exclusively to The Race last month.
He said at the time that it depended on his form after testing the YZR-M1 at Sepang in February.
“It’ll depend a lot on my feeling with the bike,” he said.
“Because if I’m quite competitive and if I have the pace to finish a race [competitively] then maybe. It’s not the same thing to be fast and to have race pace.”
Lorenzo will be hoping for a better outcome this year than in the 2019 Barcelona event, when he crashed his Honda and took Valentino Rossi, Maverick Vinales and Andrea Dovizioso out of the race.
