Honda MotoGP rider Luca Marini was “expecting worse” from Suzuka test crash

Honda MotoGP rider Luca Marini admits he is only “80%” fit for this weekend’s German Grand Prix but was “expecting worse” from his recent Suzuka 8 Hours test crash.

Following the British Grand Prix, the Italian flew to Japan to carry out testing for Honda at the Suzuka circuit when he crashed at the first corner at the end of May.

He suffered numerous injuries and had to remain in hospital in Japan before returning home in early June to continue his recovery.

While expected to be out of action until after the summer break, Luca Marini will be back on his Honda this weekend at the Sachsenring having only missed the last three rounds.

Talking on his recovery, Marini told the official MotoGP website: “I’m not feeling 100%, for sure.

“It’s still I think quite long, my recovery will take some time.

“But I’m feeling much better every week and this is so important because at the beginning it was maybe expecting to be worse and a longer period of resting.

“But every week I made a huge step, working with the physio and pushing myself a lot to work on every detail to try to arrive here and come back as soon as possible.

“It’s worked really well. Now I’m feeling ok, I would say 80%.

“I think that’s enough to ride the bike, but for sure after Friday I will have a clearer idea of my condition and what I can achieve this weekend.”

Marini says he has pain all over his body, but believes contesting the next two races ahead of the summer break will help him to get back to full fitness for the second half of the season.

“This is the target, trying to start calm and listen to my body and try to understand my physical condition,” he said of the coming German Grand Prix.

“I don’t have big pain in one zone; it’s more or less some pain everywhere.

“But with painkillers, I think we can handle this.

“It’s more that I’m missing some strength because at the end I was one month without the possibility to train.

“So, there is this lack of strength that is not giving me the best confidence.

“But for sure, these two races and some rest will help to be 100% when we come back [from the summer break].”