2023-09-29 14:13:57
Published on September 29, 2023 at 4:13 p.m. Aurélie Sacchelli
Victim of a high-speed fall during free practice for the Japanese GP, Fabio Quartararo suffers from a sprained ankle but should be able to hold his place during the weekend. Which will not be the case for Alex Rins, who hoped to return following breaking his leg, but preferred to give up.
Having reached the podium on Sunday in India for the second time this season, Fabio Quartararo seems poorly on track to repeat the same performance on Sunday in Japan. The Yamaha rider is suffering from a sprained right ankle, following a fall fifteen minutes from the end of the second free practice session on the Motegi circuit. The former world champion saw his brake lock up in a corner, so that the wheel no longer turned, which caused an inevitable fall. His head hit the ground lightly then he slid several meters and spun around a few times before stopping in the gravel and immediately holding his ankle. “I’m lucky not to have anything broken following this fall at almost 200km/h. Our pace was good but we failed to qualify for Q2. We’ll try once more tomorrow“, wrote the French pilot on his social networks. Because in addition to the pain, the Niçois will have to go through Q1 on Saturday morning and try to finish in the first two to qualify for Q1 and thus hope for a good place on the grid. Impossible mission ?
Rins didn’t hold out
For Alex Rins, the mission is already complete. The Spanish rider from the Honda team (who will be Quartararo’s teammate at Yamaha next year) was due to return to competition this weekend, following fracturing his leg in June in Italy. But following completing 16 laps during the first free practice session and six during the second, he preferred to give up following this Japanese Grand Prix, the pain being too strong. “ We are proud of your efforts, thank you for trying“, said the Japanese team. Alex Rins should try his luck once more in two weeks in Indonesia.
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