Lorenzo made his championship debut on his fifteenth birthday, on the second qualifying day for the 2002 125cc Spanish Grand Prix, after having missed Friday practice due to not being old enough to race. He dominated the 2007 250cc World Championship, with nine pole positions leading to nine victories. His victory at Misano in 2007 was his 16th in the 250cc class, making him the most successful Spanish rider of all time in the intermediate class, surpassing Dani Pedrosa and Sito Pons.
On 25 July 2007, Lorenzo was confirmed as Valentino Rossi's partner on a two-year deal for the 2008 MotoGP season with the factory Yamaha team. He made a great start to his MotoGP career, finishing second after qualifying on pole for the Qatar night race, then taking pole and third at Jerez, and converting pole into a maiden premier class victory at Estoril, Portugal. In doing so, he became the youngest rider in MotoGP to finish on the podium in his first three races, taking the record from compatriot and rival Dani Pedrosa by a single day.
A difficult middle stretch followed: Lorenzo suffered a chipped bone and snapped ligament in his left ankle and a fractured bone in his right foot at the Grand Prix of China on 1 May 2008, and went on to crash or suffer injury at Le Mans, Mugello, Barcelona, Sachsenring, and Laguna Seca. He eventually finished the season in fourth position and was named Rookie of the Year.
In 2009, Lorenzo won at Motegi and Le Mans and led the championship through the first five races before Valentino Rossi stole momentum at the Catalan Grand Prix. Further crashes at Laguna Seca, the British Grand Prix and Brno hampered his title bid. He finished runner-up in the championship as Rossi clinched the title with a third-place finish in Malaysia.
On 25 August 2009, Lorenzo signed a contract to race with Yamaha in the 2010 MotoGP Championship. He broke two bones in his hand in a pre-season pocket bike crash but fought through to finish second in the season opener in Qatar. After Rossi broke his leg in a crash at Mugello, Lorenzo became the title favourite with a 47-point lead after four wins in the first six rounds. Victory at Assen made him only the seventh rider ever to win in three classes at that circuit. Rival Dani Pedrosa suffered a broken collarbone in practice, missing the next two races. On 10 October, Lorenzo clinched the title with a third-place finish at Sepang behind Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso.
Lorenzo started the 2011 season with four podium finishes in the first five races, including a victory at the Spanish Grand Prix after a collision between Casey Stoner and Valentino Rossi left both riders off their bikes. He held the championship lead into the British Grand Prix, where he crashed out while running third in wet conditions. He then finished each of the next eight races in the top four, winning at Mugello and Misano. His season ended when he crashed during warm-up for the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island, losing the end of a finger; surgeons were able to save the nerves and tendons. Stoner won the championship at that event. The Malaysian Grand Prix was cancelled following the death of Marco Simoncelli, which helped Lorenzo maintain second place in the final standings.
Lorenzo began the season with a pole and race victory in Qatar. He won at Le Mans and Cataluña, opening a 20-point lead over Casey Stoner. Ahead of the British Grand Prix, Lorenzo signed a new two-year contract with Yamaha. He ultimately clinched his second title at Phillip Island by finishing second behind race winner Stoner, also aided by Stoner's earlier crash and ankle injury at Indianapolis which forced him out for three races.
Lorenzo started the season as defending World Champion and battled Marc Márquez and Dani Pedrosa for the championship. He won races at Losail, Mugello, Misano, Catalunya, Silverstone, Phillip Island, Motegi and Valencia, but missed the Sachsenring due to injury. He finished second in the final standings with 330 points, four points behind Márquez.
Lorenzo started the 2014 season slowly, crashing in Qatar and finishing tenth at Austin after jumping the start. By the midway point at the Sachsenring, he had only 97 points, 128 behind championship leader Marc Márquez. He then achieved four consecutive second-place finishes at Indianapolis, Brno, Silverstone and Misano. His first victory of the season came in a wet race at Aragon, followed by a further win at Motegi. He finished third in the final standings with 263 points, behind Márquez and Rossi.
Lorenzo started 2015 with modest results before taking four successive victories — for the first time in his career — at Jerez, Le Mans, Mugello and Barcelona. He added a fifth win at Brno and a sixth — his sixtieth career win — at Aragon. He cut the lead over Valentino Rossi to seven points heading to Valencia. Rossi had accrued three penalty points following a collision with Marc Márquez in Malaysia — enough to enforce a start from the back of the grid. Rossi made it up to fourth in the race, but Lorenzo won the race and took his fifth world title overall by five points.
Lorenzo started the 2016 season by winning from pole position in Qatar. Before his first runner-up finish at the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez, he announced that he would leave Yamaha to join Ducati. Two consecutive wins in France and Italy briefly put him back in the championship lead. At Misano, he set a qualifying lap record to claim his 64th career pole — an all-time record at that point — and later matched that with a 65th career pole at Valencia, where he also won the final race of the season in his last appearance for Yamaha. He finished third in the championship.
In 2017, Lorenzo joined the Ducati factory team but suffered a winless season for the first time in the premier class, scoring only three podiums and finishing seventh overall.
After a difficult season opening affected by a brake failure in Qatar and a collision at Jerez, it was announced Lorenzo's contract would not be renewed for 2019. He then won three races in succession. He took his first Ducati victory at Mugello with a dominant lights-to-flag performance — his sixth win at the circuit and his longest MotoGP winless streak broken. He followed with a dominant win at Circuit de Catalunya for back-to-back victories — his first such in MotoGP since 2016. His third win of the season came in Austria at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, defeating Marc Márquez by 0.130 seconds. Three consecutive poles at Silverstone, San Marino and Aragon yielded no points: the British Grand Prix was cancelled due to heavy rain, Lorenzo crashed while battling Márquez at San Marino, and crashed on the first corner at Aragon, breaking a bone in his foot. He subsequently withdrew from the Japanese and Australian Grand Prix rounds.
On 6 June 2018, Lorenzo was announced as joining Repsol Honda on a two-year deal, replacing retiring compatriot Dani Pedrosa. Despite tough early going with the Honda — finishing no higher than 11th through mid-season — he showed positive development of the bike for his riding style. At the Catalan GP, he collided with Valentino Rossi, Maverick Viñales and Andrea Dovizioso while making a pass in early race traffic. At the Dutch TT at Assen, Lorenzo fell in the gravel during the first practice session and fractured two vertebrae, missing the next three rounds. On 14 November 2019 at a special press conference at Circuit Ricardo Tormo near Valencia, during the last race of the season, Lorenzo announced his retirement at the age of 32. He finished the season in 19th place with just 28 points, his career worst season and the first in the premier class without a single podium finish.
After retiring from motorcycle racing, Lorenzo transitioned to sportscar racing. He competed in the Porsche Carrera Cup Italia in 2022 and 2023, driving the No. 8 Porsche 911 for Q8 Hi Perform, finishing 14th in 2022 with a best result of 8th at Vallelunga. In 2023, he also raced in the Porsche Supercup full-time for Huber Racing. He signed a multi-year deal with Lazarus Corse in 2024 to race an Aston Martin Vantage GT3 in the Endurance rounds of the Italian GT Championship, alongside William Alatalo and Mahaveer Raghunathan. He finished his first race in the series in 14th place.
During a break in the 2010 Championship, Lorenzo rode a Yamaha in a parade lap around the Snaefell Mountain Course at the Isle of Man TT alongside former World Champion Ángel Nieto, describing the experience as "amazing". He then participated in the garlanding ceremony at the Senior TT, presenting garlands to winner Ian Hutchinson, second-placed Ryan Farquhar and third-placed Bruce Anstey.
In 2022, Lorenzo was hired by DAZN to work as a race commentator for MotoGP broadcasts in Spain.
During his 250cc championship years, Lorenzo was known for aggressive riding and was penalised by a race suspension that prevented him from competing in Malaysia in 2005, which included last-lap clashing of fairings with Dani Pedrosa and taking Alex de Angelis down. His tenure at the Fiat Yamaha team was marked by an intense rivalry with teammate Valentino Rossi. In 2011, Lorenzo argued publicly with Marco Simoncelli over dangerous riding; Simoncelli died later that year after being run over following a fall onto the race track in Malaysia.
Lorenzo was born in Palma, Balearic Islands, Spain. On 2 May 2013, three days before the Spanish Grand Prix, the Circuito de Jerez renamed its thirteenth corner "Curva Lorenzo", previously known as "Curva Ducados".
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