Factory Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo has admitted it may be a little too late to mount a challenge against Casey Stoner and try to retain his MotoGP world championship but the Spaniard seems to have regained some motivation ahead of this weekend's Motegi round.

Lorenzo was adamant he wasn't going to attend the race in Japan until Yamaha told him actually was. The Majorcan is 44 points behind Stoner in the points table but there are still 100 left on the table before the chequered flag drops in Valencia.

"He won so many races and make more podiums than any rider so it is normal that he has so many points. Maybe it's too late for to beat him in the championship but there are still a lot of points to play with so you never know," said Lorenzo.

"We must keep up the spirit and the motivation that anything is possible and, for sure, fight for the win in any race. Motegi is normally a difficult track for us as it had a lot of big straights. Motegi is a track where I have won before and last year I had a nice fight for the podium. I would like to win again here, so that is my aim this weekend. After all the confusion with Fukushima we are here, fit and ready to put on a good show for Yamaha in this special year for them."