Lorenzo says he never lost confidence

The Spaniard's victory in America revitalised his title challenge after a string of defeats by Rossi and several errors, including race-ending falls in the previous two rounds at Donington Park and Brno.

But Lorenzo insisted he had never lost confidence as Rossi pulled away in the points, so did not feel any different now that he had closed in again.

"The confidence is the same," he said. "You are fast at every track, only sometimes you maybe have bad luck or take too many risks. But we are competitive at every track."

He also shrugged off the mistakes he had made earlier in the summer, saying it was inevitable that a second year MotoGP rider would still make errors.

"I'm learning from experience," said Lorenzo.

While Lorenzo stayed on the road and claimed his third victory of the season at Indianapolis, his main rivals Rossi and Dani Pedrosa both fell. But Lorenzo said errors were understandable this year given the intensity of the competition at the front.

"As I said after the race at Indianapolis, the top four riders in the championship are always pushing very hard, riding almost a second quicker than last year," he said. "So it's more likely that you'll crash in this situation, when you are pushing every lap and every corner."