Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo kept his title hopes alive with a calculated Australian GP win.

Defending world champion Jorge Lorenzo delivered a stunning ride to win the Tissot Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix yesterday, boosting himself back into title contention following the demise of title rival Marc Marquez.

It was an eventful race for Lorenzo, leading to the pit window from pole position, however he opted to pit one lap later than scheduled in an adjusted strategy mid-race.

Lorenzo and Marquez clashed in a controversial incident following the pit stops, before the latter was disqualified due to pitting one lap outside the required window.

“I’m really happy with this win, we’ve also been lucky because Marc made this mistake,” Lorenzo beamed. “Without that he would have been second or first because he was really fast today.

“So we’ve been lucky, but we were unlucky in the middle of the championship so today is a balance. When I was entering the first corner Marc was exiting the pit at exactly the same time, the situation was almost impossible to avoid.

“I was braking a little later to open the line and I don’t think he was looking so much entering the corner so it was both our fault. Now we have options, if Marc keeps constant on the podium then it is impossible to win the championship, but there are a lot of laps to go so anything could happen.”

The result leaves Lorenzo now on 280 points, 18 behind Marquez as they head to Motegi for the final of the fly-away triple-headers.