LCR boss provides first Johann Zarco update after Catalunya Turn 1 incident

LCR MotoGP team boss, Lucio Cecchinello, says Johann Zarco has pain “in the femur area” after a scary incident during Sunday’s Catalan Grand Prix.

The race was red-flagged on lap 12 of 24 for a terrifying collision involving Pedro Acosta, whose KTM encountered an issue, and Gresini’s Alex Marquez on the back straight between Turns 9 and 10.

Alex Marquez was taken to hospital for checks, while the race was restarted again.

On this restart, Johann Zarco collided with Luca Marini and Pecco Bagnaia at Turn 1 at the start, and got tangled up with one of the bikes.

A red flag was flow again while Zarco received medical attention, with the Frenchman taken to hospital for further checks.

Speaking to TNT Sport, Cecchinello offered an update on Zarco’s condition.

“Well, at the moment, he’s been taken to the local hospital,” he said.

“They will perform an MRI and scan to check exactly what he has.

“He has pain in the left leg. He has pain around the knee.

“But, fortunately, he has no concussion, he has no injuries in the upper part of the body, in the feet, in the ankle.

“Looks like he has pain, just in the femur area. I really hope there will be no bad news coming.”

Zarco had been having a strong weekend up to that point, qualifying fifth and finishing there in the sprint.

Prior to the first red flag, Zarco was inside the top six.

“Look, I was commenting that it was a perfect weekend for us: fifth in Friday practice, fifth in qualifying, fifth in the sprint, sixth with 2.8s after half a race,” Cecchinello added.

“It was really, really a pity that our weekend ended like this.”

Zarco suffered bruising on his foot from hitting debris when Marquez and Acosta collided, but was cleared to restart.