Tobias Mühlbauer
Formula 1 & Motorcycle Department
MotoGP and Formula 1, that’s my thing. I turned my passion into my job at MSM and have been there for you ever since when engines roar.MORE
After just three laps, with a deficit of more than 10 seconds, the Aprilia rider called it a day. Given his condition, a race weekend was not possible and withdrawing was therefore the only right decision. In this condition, he would have been a danger to himself and the other riders. By withdrawing, he preempted the medical examination that was due after the first training session.
“I was in a lot of pain before I came here. At the last moment I decided to come. The doctors told me that I would not be able to ride. The injury is on my right hand, which means you have to accelerate. But I didn’t want to stay at home and came here. I tried my best, but it was impossible. I was in a lot of pain every time I went into a right-hand bend. I couldn’t control the gas. That’s dangerous for the others too. I was forced to stop,” Espargaro said in an interview during training.
This means that the Apilia factory team will only have Maverick Vinales on the starting line in the last race before the summer break, as test and reserve driver Lorenzo Savadori was injured in Assen like Espargaro. Espargaro now has a whole month to recover before the next race in Silverstone. At the 2023 British GP, the Catalan took victory there with a spectacular maneuver on the last lap.
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