2011 MotoGP News
As 2010 MotoGP Champion Jorge Lorenzo visits various parts of Indonesia for the next few days, he began a diary about his travels.
The Mallorcan star Lorenzo was warmly welcomed when he arrived on Friday, enjoying huge support from his millions of Indonesian MotoGP fans. This fourth trip marks Lorenzo’s first as MotoGP World Champion.
On Saturday, the Yamaha facotry rider greeted 200 loyal fans before donning his unique Yamaha ‘Semakin Di Depan’ (One Step Ahead) leathers to ride out on stage in front of a crowd of 3000 to reveal the new Yamaha Jupiter MX to the Yamaha Motor Kencana Indonesia (YMKI) dealers.
After a hugely successful event Lorenzo went on to attend a Gala Dinner for VIP YMKI Dealers, representatives of YMC and YMKI top management.
On Jan. 17, Lorenzo will arrive in Bali for a further press conference and photo shoot, then a second meet and greet to give his fans another opportunity to meet him in person. The reigning World Champion will remain in Bali on winter holiday until Jan. 27 before heading to Malaysia to start the first of the 2011 MotoGP tests at the Sepang circuit on the 1st February.
Following is the first of Lorenzo’s diaries about his visit to Indonesia.
Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha MotoGP): "Today is Saturday and Indonesia doesn’t sleep! I woke up at 7.45am and went to the gym for some training. After breakfast we went to the Jakarta Convention Centre, where the YMKI Dealer Meeting was going to take place in the afternoon. The rehearsal was very important; more than 3000 people would be there in the afternoon and nothing could be left to the chance. Furthermore, I unveiled the new Jupiter MX to the Yamaha network and I had to ride it to the stage, after appearing from nowhere thanks to a hidden elevator!
"I also learned few sentences in Bahasa, to keep Yamaha’s guests ‘hot’ and I think I managed! I also had some time off and I spent it playing Fifa 2011. My Barca were on top form and got three wins out of 3 matches…
"At 12pm we drove to Plaza Senayan. It was raining in Jakarta but the event took place indoors, at the beautiful Equinox Cafè, where 200 fans were waiting for me. I got a glimpse of what was going to happen because some Indonesian fans uploaded some pictures of the location on my Twitter just few minutes before I got there. That’s a good way to know things in advance, especially when you have such good ‘spies’ in place!
"The meet & greet was funny. I found three dancers on the stage when I got there and they invited me to join the dance. Unfortunately, I did it… I am very shy for such experiences but somebody told me the ‘output’ was not so bad!
"After that, media interviews and then…siesta! I slept approximately two hours, then I was woken just in time to put on my blue Yamaha/Semakin Di Depan leathers and my helmet, jump on the new Jupiter MX and appear on the stage from the fog and the lasers, in front of more than 3000 people! The guests included Hiroyuki Yanagi, President of Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd, Dyonisius Beti, President of YMKI and Tsuneji Suzuki, President and Director of Yamaha Motor Indonesia Manufacturing, who I’d have dinner with later, together with a selection of VIP dealers of YMKI.
"My ‘study’ in the morning paid me back and I was able to say at least 5 sentences in Indonesian language! It’s not the easiest language to learn so a real success!
"The dinner has just finished now and I would like take a massage or enjoy the fantastic pool at the hotel, but no way… It’s again time to sleep because tomorrow we will be flying to Surabaya, where my Indonesian tour is going to continue, hopefully with as good results as it has had so far."
