MOTOGP: Lorenzo - Luck helping Marquez's new approach

Jorge Lorenzo believes there is an element of luck accompanying MotoGP title rival Marc Marquez's newfound approach this year.

Marquez has discussed his more conservative attitude after several races this season, including following the Dutch TT at Assen, in which the Honda rider finished second.

While crashes stymied his quest for a third-consecutive title in 2015, he leads Lorenzo in this year's championship by 24 points.

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"This is the fourth championship for him in MotoGP," Lorenzo said of Marquez. "He has more experience than the first year for example. He's been lucky to crash a lot of time in the practices but not in the race. [But] he looks a little bit more concentrated when he cannot win."

Marquez is the only one of the top three riders to have scored points in every race so far this season, with Lorenzo having failed to finish two races and his Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi three.

Lorenzo crashed out of the race in Argentina, and Rossi at Austin and then Assen.

In those three races, Marquez crashed twice on Saturday in Argentina and on the Friday at Austin but won both grands prix, while he fell in qualifying at Assen after saving a wild highside in Saturday's third practice session.

To Lorenzo, that underlines that Marquez's points lead is not purely because of his approach, especially as riders come to grips with Michelin's new-for-2016 tyres.

"For example [at Assen on Saturday], he almost crashed in a big moment," he said. "If he crashed this time, he could have injured himself very badly. So you never know when you can crash, you never know this year, if you can injure yourself in a big moment or in a stupid moment. So we cannot say that Marquez, 'now he cannot crash or cannot make mistakes.' You are always at the limit and everyone can make mistakes and can get no single points like Rossi did."

Originally on Autosport.com