Jorge Lorenzo says double MotoGP World Champion comes into the 2024 MotoGP World Championship as an undisputed favourite to make it a ‘three-peat’ this season, even going as far as branding him ‘like a robot’.

The Italian begins the quest for his third straight MotoGP World Championship at this weekend’s Qatar MotoGP curtain raiser around the Lusail International Circuit.

He starts the season as the de facto favourite after two battling campaigns in 2022, when he fought back from a large deficit to overhaul Fabio Quartararo, and in 2023, when he fended off the challenge from a determined Jorge Martin.

Heading into 2024, triple MotoGP World Champion Lorenzo predicts Bagnaia now has the belief and confidence that he is capable of dominating the series, because he is the ‘kind of rider who is like a robot’...

"I think Pecco is that kind of rider who is like a robot, similar to how I was," the Spaniard told MotoGP.com "They need everything perfect to feel strong and when they feel strong, they’re unbeatable.

"The two titles he’s won have made him believe in himself much more and now his confidence is in the sky. He knows the bike perfectly because since 2019 he’s been on the same bike, he’s made the evolution of the Ducati in the last few years and Ducati have taken his notes to create the bike to his riding style, so this is very important.

"That’s what he’s done this pre-season – try to show his rivals that he’s still the best, still the number one, to make them put their head down and not improve their confidence. I think his strategy was perfect but now it’s time for racing."

Sizing up Bagnaia’s competition, though Lorenzo - who won all three of the titles with Yamaha - talks up the challenge of Ducati counterparts Martin, Enea Bastianini and even Marc Marquez, who joins the fold from Honda this year, he still feels Bagnaia has speed in hand.

"Now people understand that Pecco is one of the best and one of the favourites. He has a top talent and as I said, when everything is under control, he’s able to be unbeatable at some tracks. So he is very strong, he’s already a two-time World Champion.

"But anyway this is MotoGP and they’re the best riders on the planet. Marc Marquez has the best bike, maybe not the best bike because he has the 2023 bike and it looks like the 2024 Ducati has improved a lot, but with the best company bike let’s say. 

“Bastianini will feel better and Jorge Martin wants to become Champion for the first time, so for sure he won’t have an easy job. But we can’t deny that Pecco is one of the strongest and for me, at the moment, until someone does something he’s the favourite."