MotoGP News
Ălvaro Bautista has been forced to withdraw from the rest of this weekend’s proceedings at the French Grand Prix in Le Mans after a crash in practice caused him further injuries.
Bautista suffered from a big high-side on only the third lap of this morning’s practice session. He landed hard on the asphalt and sustained some more minor injuries, as well as aggravating the broken collarbone that he sustained only a week ago.
Bautista was one of three riders to all crash on the same lap this morning, all caught out by the low track temperatures.
He was treated by Dr. Costa’s staff straight after the session and after careful consideration and discussions with the team, took the decision to abandon any further attempts to race this weekend.
Ălvaro Bautista says: "It is not a good way to say bye-bye to a MotoGP race! This morning I had an injection to help with the pain and for two laps the feeling was a little bit better, not a big difference, but better. Then I crashed and I don’t really know why because I was not going very fast and I just lost the rear tyre. After that I felt more pain down my left side and I decided not to race here and make sure I make a full recovery for the next race. In the future we have lots of races together so it is better to be 100% in all of them, than be 50% or less in one!"
Paul Denning (Team Manager) says: "It is a great disappointment not to have Ălvaro competing for the rest of the weekend, but in the end the team and the medical staff at the track had to advise him to sit out and let the relatively minor injuries he has heal in time for Mugello. The combination of injuries would have significantly compromised his safety and possibly that of other riders. He’s disappointed, but we are now guaranteed that he’ll be fit and strong for Mugello and we’ll be looking forward to him building on his strong Jerez race performance."
Rizla Suzuki will not replace Bautista with another rider for the French Grand Prix, so the team will field a one-man attack as Loris Capirossi takes on the responsibility for the squad.
Bautista will return to Spain for further treatment – as well as rest and recuperation – to make sure he is 100% fit for the next round of the season at Mugello in Italy in two weeks’ time.