Jorge Lorenzo‘s MotoGP victory in Japan on Sunday was characteristically understated. Propping his bike up against a gaggle of marshals, Lorenzo planted his ‘Lorenzo Land’ flag, familiar from his 250cc days. BBC commentator Charlie Cox – violently hated in parts – was on form:

“It’s a shame it’s not raining, because then he could demonstrate how he can walk on water as well.”

Lorenzo certainly is a cocky young man. He couldn’t restart his bike after planting the flag, but even that didn’t affect his swagger. Cox again, as Lorenzo pushed his bike back to the pit lane:

“Come on Jorge you stupid boy, bring it back home.”

It was only Lorenzo’s second win in the premier class, and it’s been almost a year since his first. The middle and latter parts of last season were fairly disastrous, losing confidence after a series of crashes, which resulted from pushing too hard – and perhaps being overconfident.

So the question for this year is: can he maintain a fast pace without risking binning it every race? He proved in the 125cc and 250cc classes that he can string together a championship campaign, so now that he’s familiar with the MotoGP machinery, I think he can.

He could be a real threat for the title.