Jorge Lorenzo is slightly upset with Dainese and may be leaving his sponsor at the end of the year and switching to Alpinestars.
Apparently the 2010 reigning World Champion is not happy with the fact that the Italian company, that supplies a number of professional riders, has failed to use him in any ad campaign exploiting his MotoGP title.
According to Spanish website Motocuatro.
com, who has close ties with the Spanish rider’s staff, the question goes even deeper as Lorenzo has found out that his arch rival and former team mate, a certain pain in the ass that goes by the name of Valentino Rossi, is not only the honorary president of AGV Helmets (even if Lorenzo wears Nolan) which was purchased in 2007 by Dainese from Imag and that ‘The Doctor’ is also a shareholder in both companies and is close friends with Lino Dainese, who founded the company.
Dainese has been supplying and sponsoring the Spanish champion since his 250cc days and Lorenzo has also been involved in the D-Air leathers development and has always received the same technical treatment as the other Dainese riders, but Lorenzo wants more star power and wants to stay away from the still shining light of a certain MotoGP legend, who pulls sponsors towards him like a black hole or it could be something more simple and venal, like more sponsorship money.
It would also be interesting to hear Lorenzo’s take on the fact that despite his star qualities, the 2010 title, his character change from a sullen youngster to become a polite and well mannered superstar, his social networking, his total availability towards all his sponsors, Yamaha has yet to find a title sponsor to replace Fiat, despite big named companies like Petronas, Telefonica, and AirAsia having been bandied around.