Lorenzo undergoes hospital checks after FP1 fall

Jorge Lorenzo has been taken to hospital for further checks following his heavy off during the opening free practice session at Assen ahead of the Dutch MotoGP.

The Repsol Honda rider, who has suffered a number of high-profile crashes over the past 12 months, low-sided off at Turn 7 midway through FP1 at Assen and received immediate medical attention trackside before being taken to the circuit medical centre in an ambulance.

Lorenzo undergoes hospital checks after FP1 fall

Jorge Lorenzo has been taken to hospital for further checks following his heavy off during the opening free practice session at Assen ahead of the Dutch MotoGP.

The Repsol Honda rider, who has suffered a number of high-profile crashes over the past 12 months, low-sided off at Turn 7 midway through FP1 at Assen and received immediate medical attention trackside before being taken to the circuit medical centre in an ambulance.

After complaining of pain to his chest and spine, an injury he picked up in a crash at the one-day post-Catalan MotoGP test last week, Lorenzo has been taken to hospital for MRI and CT scans.

The hospital trip means Lorenzo will not take part in FP2 as he awaits hospital checks, while the remainder of his Dutch MotoGP weekend is uncertain if he has sustained concussion or further injuries to his chest and spine.

“Jorge is now fine. He has had a high-energy crash, he has fallen very badly,” Dr Charte at the medical centre at the TT Circuit Assen told MotoGP.com. “When he got here, he was stunned, slightly disoriented and certainly very unstable.

“We have made the relevant checks, including the normal radiology, but I’m not fully satisfied. So, we decided, even though there is no brain injury, to do an MRI scan of the spine and a CT scan from the thorax to the abdomen.

“The greatest concern is the pain that he says is the most intense in the torso-lumbar area. It is an area already punished by the crash in Catalonia.”

Lorenzo’s latest off continues his miserable run of injuries sustained over the past 12 months which began with a high-speed crash during practice at last year’s Thailand MotoGP which ruled him out of four rounds.

The five-time world champion then fractured his left wrist during winter training which forced him to miss large chunks of pre-season testing.

Lorenzo hasn’t missed a race in 2019 for Repsol Honda but was at the centre of a high-profile off when he crashed out of the Catalan MotoGP and accidently took out Andrea Dovizioso, Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi.

In 2013, Lorenzo fought back from a broken collarbone sustained in a wet free practice crash at Assen to finish the Dutch race in fifth place having undergone surgery less than 48 hours earlier.

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