Jorge Lorenzo: MotoGP title bid 'restarts' in Germany after Assen collision

Lorenzo's 25-point lead was wiped out in the Dutch TT by his first corner collision with Alvaro Bautista and by Casey Stoner's eventual triumph.

The Yamaha rider, the only man in the championship top four to have suffered a retirement, says his campaign starts afresh at the Sachsenring, a track he has never won at previously.

"Assen was a disaster for us, we worked very hard to build up the championship lead which unfortunately was lost on the first corner," Lorenzo, who injured his ankle in the crash with Bautista, said.

"Anyway, now we start again at the same points as Casey. I haven't won a race at [the] Sachsenring but have had good battles there and always finished on the podium. That is our goal this weekend, and if possible to fight for the victory. My ankle is quite sore but luckily there is nothing broken."

Team manager Wilco Zeelenberg said the back-to-back weekends give Yamaha a chance to immediately erase the damage inflicted at Assen.

"After a very tough weekend in Assen we are quite happy to race immediately again," Zeelenberg said. "For Jorge it's good to be able to get straight back on the bike to fight back as quickly as possible.

"We need to erase Assen and move on. We're still fast and we are confident we could have fought for victory there so we take that with us."

Lorenzo leads the championship by virtue of countback, having won four races to Stoner's three. Dani Pedrosa on the second works Honda is third, 19 points off the lead.