Pol Espargaro set for Thailand MotoGP after wrist injury

Red Bull KTM has confirmed Pol Espargaro will attempt to race at the Thailand MotoGP less than two weeks on from surgery on his fractured wrist.

The Spanish rider sustained a fractured radius in his left wrist during an off in the final practice session at the Aragon MotoGP which ruled him out of action for the factory KTM squad.

After undergoing surgery on the same weekend in Barcelona, Espargaro has completed intensive physiotherapy over the past two weeks to regain strength in his left wrist in time for the next round in Thailand.

Confident enough to complete laps on his RC16, Espargaro is heading to the Chang International Circuit with Red Bull KTM and will attempt to take part in the race weekend with his condition set to be assessed after each practice session before making a final call on qualifying and the race.

If Espargaro is unable to compete in Buriram, KTM isn’t expected to call upon a stand-in rider given test rider Mika Kallio has already replaced Johann Zarco on the other side of the garage for the rest of the season after the split between the French rider and the Austrian manufacturer.

Dani Pedorsa had been linked to a replacement role but appears to have turned down the opportunity as he prefers to stick to his test rider role at KTM.

Espargaro had been building a strong run of form before his crash at Aragon by taking KTM’s first-ever dry weather front row start in qualifying at Misano before converting it into seventh place in the race.

With the Thailand MotoGP taking place this weekend, Espargaro will then have another two weeks to recover before the start of a triple-header which begins in Japan on October 18-20.