The Honda troops were hit hard in the first fight of the season at Jerez. A Spanish Grand Prix during which Marc Marquez was so seriously injured that he will remain unavailable for a while while Cal Crutchlow, the second knife, saw his blade dull following a fall during warm-up which fractured his scaphoid. Both men underwent surgery. And chef Alberto Puig hopes to at least count on his Englishman for the second round on the same circuit…
It will then be for the Andalusian Grand Prix which will take place this weekend. The interests of Honda will be defended on this occasion by a Cal Crutchlow of which HRC has already signaled the end of its adventure at the end of this year. He will be replaced at LCR by Alex Marquez who will therefore team up with Nakagami. The only two drivers in good shape on an RC213V. But not the fastest...
Against bad luck, Alberto puig still makes a good heart: “ everyone who competes in the world championship has the unfortunate possibility of getting injured and having to go to the operating room. Alas, it was our turn and it was Marc who had to undergo an operation " remember Puig. “ Marc will take some time to recover but we are happy with how everything went ».
« Doctor Mir and his team took charge of the entire situation since the fall and performed a successful operation. This gives a lot of motivation to the Repsol Honda team, who know that everything went well, but now we have to be patient to see how Marc recovers and to understand when he will be able to return ».
Operation also successful for Cal Crutchlow
Then he adds: “ Cal Crutchlow also had an operation which went well and in principle his intention is to test the wrist on Friday. We are optimistic about his participation in the Grand Prix ».
An optimism shared by Lucio Ceccinello, boss of the LCR team: “ I would like to thank Dr. Mir and his medical team for performing surgery on Cal's left wrist this morning. A small screw was inserted into his scaphoid to repair the fracture. The surgery went well, as Dr. Mir personally informed me, and Cal will be leaving the hospital later this afternoon. If all goes well, we expect him at the Angel Nieto circuit in Jerez on Thursday morning, where he will receive a visit from Dorna's medical director, Dr. Ángel Charte, who will assess his fitness for racing. Our technical staff is working to get everything ready for Cal to roll in practice Friday morning"
Puig resumes to finish: “ This weekend we will focus on Alex, to help him take another step. When you are young and new in a category, every week you improve and grow. We hope he can close the gap to the race lead ". The latter remains substantial. And this last remark indicates that the test pilot Stefan bradl will stay at home.
