Bagnaia taken to hospital following FP3 incident - Updated
Francesco Bagnaia has been declared unfit by the MotoGP medical team after suffering a left wrist fracture and has gone to hospital for further examinations following his strange crash at the exit of the pit lane during FP3 at the Valencia Grand Prix.
The Pramac Ducati rider appeared to lock his front brake leaving the pit lane ahead of his final run during the Saturday morning practice session which sent the Italian rider flying over his handlebars and into a nasty impact on the ground.
Francesco Bagnaia has been declared unfit by the MotoGP medical team after suffering a left wrist fracture and has gone to hospital for further examinations following his strange crash at the exit of the pit lane during FP3 at the Valencia Grand Prix.
The Pramac Ducati rider appeared to lock his front brake leaving the pit lane ahead of his final run during the Saturday morning practice session which sent the Italian rider flying over his handlebars and into a nasty impact on the ground.
Television replays caught the moment his Ducati GP18 appeared to stop suddenly and flip him off but it remains unclear what caused the incident.
On returning to the Pramac Ducati team garage after FP3, Bagnaia’s team-mate Jack Miller was overheard explaining the brake temperature change could have caused his front brake to lock on when the Italian rider was checking his brakes before going into Turn 1.
After being assessed at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo medical centre the 2018 Moto2 world champion was declared unfit and taken to the local hospital in Valencia for further assessments which confirmed Bagnaia suffered a left wrist fracture and will miss the rest of this weekend. The injury also puts his participation in next week’s two-day post-race test under threat.
“After the crash he has been declared unfit for today,” Pramac Ducati team manager Francesco Guidotti told MotoGP.com. “He had a SAC [concussion] check in hospital but all is okay.
“He will have a new check in the medical centre tomorrow and we will see. A little fracture in the left wrist but nothing special, the biggest thing is the bang on the head. He can’t remember what happened, we are checking with the Brembo technicians because it doesn’t look like a rider mistake.”
Bagnaia will spend this winter upgrading to the factory Ducati GP20 for next season, although the full 2020-specifcation bike won’t be ready until February’s Sepang test, with Ducati supplying four latest specification factory machines for the first time.
Assuming the Italian rider doesn’t start the Valencia GP it will mark the first race he’s missed since skipping the 2014 Assen and Sachsenring rounds during his Moto3 days when he was sidelined by injury.
