The reigning world champion had initially intended to skip this weekend to give himself time to properly recover from recent collarbone damage.

Lorenzo had broken his collarbone in an Assen practice crash, returned from surgery to race to fifth place two days later, only to crash again in Sachsenring practice last week and bend the titanium plate inserted into his previous injury.

That sidelined him for the rest of the German GP weekend and seemed set to rule him out of America too until a mid-week change of heart.

Lorenzo will now ride his Yamaha as usual in the two free practice sessions on Friday at Laguna.

Dani Pedrosa has also been passed fit to ride by the MotoGP medics.

The Honda rider missed last week’s German race due to the after-effects of concussion following a practice accident of his own. Pedrosa will sit out morning practice before joining in for the second session.

In Lorenzo and Pedrosa’s absence, Marc Marquez won at the Sachsenring and jumped past both his rivals into the championship lead.