Jorge Lorenzo felt he might have been able to beat his Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi to second in the Valencia Grand Prix had the airbag system in his leathers not opened early in the race. Rossi passed the Spaniard in the opening stages and went on to secure second behind the dominant Dani Pedrosa's Honda.
"The race was quite difficult because I've never felt great with this track," said Lorenzo. "I made a mistake in a slow corner, and then my airbag opened, so I was not comfortable. Then Vale overtook me and it was difficult to catch him. I started to catch him, but not enough to overtake him."
The result still confirmed Lorenzo's second place in the MotoGP championship, as his rival Casey Stoner crashed on the way to the grid. Despite losing the title to his teammate, Lorenzo said he was still very satisfied with his runner-up spot in the standings.
"Everyone wants to win the world title, but second position is still a good result for us," he said. "It's impossible to do better for the Yamaha factory. This year we won almost everything. So I'm very happy with my season. I won four races, took podiums and pole positions, and second in the championship is nice."