This morning, just 10 minutes after the Sepang circuit track opened for the first day of testing MotoGP in Malaysia, the session was interrupted at red flags due to a double fall at turn 11.
While Francesco Bagnaia managed to return to his box with his Ducati in the trailer of the broom car, Raul fernandez, who said he slipped on oil on the track while riding his Aprilia RS-GP 2023, had to go to the circuit's medical center after completing only three flying laps, and anecdotally recorded 1'59.639 on the scoreboard. display, which was then the best time, before being canceled for a reason that we do not know (probably carried out under yellow flags because of the fall of Bagnaia).
At the circuit's medical unit, no fracture was detected and the Trackhouse Racing MotoGP rider returned to the track after the half-hour break, even managing to complete four additional runs, with a best time of 2'00.120.
However, severe pain in his pelvis and hip ultimately forced the Spanish driver to go to hospital for checks. Luckily, there was no serious damage, only micro-fractures to the hip, but in order not to risk additional serious injuries in this intermediate part of the body, already badly bruised, it was decided to interrupt there the test at Sepang.
Raul fernandez will therefore have to return home and recover in order to be in full possession of his means for the last test which will take place in Qatar on February 19 and 20.
Raul Fernandez: “First of all, I would like to apologize to Aprilia and our Trackhouse Racing MotoGP team. This morning, during my first laps, I had a big crash due to the track conditions. Honestly, I didn't expect it. But because of this crash, I will not be able to continue testing here in Sepang. I feel really, really bad, because we won't have the chance to continue to understand the new bike better and find out what the feeling is. For me, it is important to recover well and rest. So I have to focus on my recovery and try to be 100% in the Qatar test in order to do all the work we planned to do here. Once again, I would like to apologize to Aprilia and the team. »
Results from the first day of testing at Sepang:
Classification credit: MotoGP.com
