Investigation launched into Franco Morbidelli’s suit opening in German MotoGP crash
Morbidelli crashed during the sprint at the German GP

Leather manufacturer Dainese is carrying out an investigation into the cause of Franco Morbidelli’s race suit opening during a crash in the MotoGP German Grand Prix sprint.
The VR46 rider fell going through the Turn 8 left-hander during Saturday’s sprint at a wet Sachsenring on the third lap of 15.
The fall was violent enough to see Franco Morbidelli’s leather race suit open, while the Italian had to go to hospital for checks on his elbow.
While no serious injury was found, Morbidelli missed Sunday’s German Grand Prix as a result of pain in his elbow.
In an interview published by Italian outlet GPOne, Dainese’s Pietro Mastrapasqua says an investigation is being carried out to determine why Morbidelli’s race suit opened in the crash.
He says this has “never happened before” to one of its race suits and claims initial findings showed “no abnormalities”.
“We’ll bring the suit to the company to analyse it, since it’s an anomalous thing that has never happened before,” Mastrapasqua says in an interview with GPOne.
“We’ll have to analyse the data to understand the force of impact, since the suit was subjected to very significant movement.
“We’ll certainly have to work for the future, since these accidents are becoming more and more brutal.
“We’ll have to analyse the material, because at first glance both we and IRTA (International Race Teams’ Association) found no abnormalities.
“Something definitely happened, even if the suit passed all the previous tests. Our materials are super tested with self-locking zippers.
“It’s all very strange.”
He notes that the locking zipper means it cannot be opened while a rider is on the bike and there is a mandated retention system in place too.