Lorenzo: Fighting spirit carried me to victory

Jorge Lorenzo hailed his never say die attitude as the reason he prevailed to clinch victory in the opening MotoGP race of 2012 under the floodlights in Qatar.

The factory Yamaha rider finally secured his maiden victory on the Losail circuit, overhauling reigning champion Casey Stoner on the Repsol Honda RC213V to scoop the maximum 25 points available as he began his title challenge in the best possible fashion.

Lorenzo, who crossed the line 0.852s ahead of Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa – who also caught and passed a fading Stoner – said he 'gave his all' to achieve a dramatic victory on the M1.

“What an amazing race! I put everything I have, all my energy into the track, this victory is because I never gave up, [I] kept pushing and trying,” said Lorenzo.

“Casey was very strong at the beginning and opened a gap. Fortunately for us he struggled at the end and dropped his pace where I could keep mine so I managed to pass him.

“I am very grateful to Yamaha because they have made a big step this winter on the YZR-M1.”

Stoner afterwards cited arm-pump as the reason he tailed off in the concluding stages of the race.

Lorenzo's team-mate, Ben Spies, battled major chatter issues from the beginning of the race and struggled to 11th position in a frustrating opening to his 2012 campaign.

“A tough race but sometimes that's just the way it goes,” said the American. “I tested my airbag twice this weekend; good to know it works well!

“We'll go back to Jerez now and hopefully have the bike issue sorted. It was good that Jorge won, we can see the Yamaha is going well, we just had a big problem with chatter so we have to work out what it was.”