Jorge Lorenzo said he tried everything to beat Casey Stoner to victory in the Australian Grand Prix, even though he knew that the home favorite was likely to be unstoppable.
The new champion Lorenzo ultimately finished eight seconds adrift of the race-winning Ducati at Phillip Island, but the Yamaha rider said he went into the race optimistic that he might be able to halt Stoner's run of home victories.
"When you see the statistics and you see that Casey has won here four times in a row, you know that it's going to be very, very complicated to beat him," said Lorenzo. "But before the warm-up lap, I looked to my left and I saw Casey's rear tire was new. So I thought maybe in the first or second lap he will be very, very careful. But it was the opposite – he was so, so fast, and on the first lap he had a gap of one and a half seconds.
"So I just thought 'OK, I'm going to try, I'm going to do my best.' The gap didn't grow a lot, but from the middle of the race he was still going faster and faster, and I couldn't make it."
Given Stoner's form at Phillip Island, Lorenzo added that he felt no shame in being defeated in the end.
"Second position today is still a good result," he said.