Current MotoGP World Champion Jorge Lorenzo has crashed in practice for the Assen TT event overnight and will now head to Barcelona for surgery on a broken collarbone.
The Spanish rider had posted the quickest combined times throughout practice and blames too much confidence for the spill that will see him out of this weekends racing. The Yamaha MotoGP team announced that ‘the first diagnosis is a left clavicle fracture’.
Lorenzo said the accident occurred at the fastest corner on the track, at a speed well over 200kmh. “I think I was too confident, at the moment of the crash I was very fast and felt very strong, but maybe the conditions weren’t the perfect ones to have this high confidence,” he explained. “I entered the corner faster than the previous lap and I think touched a patch of water, or maybe aquaplaned which made the rear wheel light and touch onto the white line, making it a lot worse which is why I crashed. I flew and when I hit the ground I broke my collarbone. I don’t have anything negative with this circuit, just bad luck or in this case, too much confidence.”
Track temperatures were a chilly 14 degrees celsius for the morning session and in the afternoon the riders had rain to contend with.
Yamaha Tech 3 rider Cal Crutchlow also started strongly and sits second, followed by Honda rider Marc Marquez. Valentino Rossi stated that he is full of confidence after practice, sitting fourth. Championship leader Dani Pedrosa is fifth heading into qualifying.
Pedrosa’s title hopes certainly received a boost thanks to the misfortune of Lorenzo, however the Honda rider was quick to wish his compatriot a speedy recovery, saying “The downside of today was the injury to Jorge. It’s a shame that he crashed and that it turned out so badly for him. As a rider, I know that now is a difficult time for him, so hopefully he can get through these days as best he can, as things like this are very painful.”
Meanwhile, in Moto2, Ant West has started his weekend well and was 8th fastest. In Moto3, Arthur Sissis and Jack Miller sat 9th and 10th respectively after FP2.
MotoGP Assen TT – full practice times
1. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Yamaha Factory Racing 1’35.263
2. Cal Crutchlow (GBR) Monster Yamaha Tech3 1’35.613
3. Marc Marquez (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 1’35.883
4. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha Factory Racing 1’35.958
5. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 1’36.034
6. Aleix Espargaro (SPA) Power Electronics Aspar 1’36.430
7. Stefan Bradl (GER) LCR Honda MotoGP 1’36.559
8. Alvaro Bautista (SPA) Go&Fun Honda Gresini 1’36.763
9. Michele Pirro (ITA) Ignite Pramac Racing 1’36.910
10. Bradley Smith (GBR) Monster Yamaha Tech3 1’37.002
11. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) Ducati Team 1’37.041
12. Nicky Hayden (USA) Ducati Team 1’37.153
13. Karel Abraham (CZE) Cardion AB Motoracing 1’37.346
14. Hector Barbera (SPA) Avintia Blusens 1’37.456
15. Randy De Puniet (FRA) Suzuki Test Team 1’37.489
16. Andrea Iannone (ITA) Pramac Racing Team 1’37.538
17. Danilo Petrucci (ITA) Came Iodaracing Project 1’37.654
18. Yonny Hernandez (COL) Paul Bird Motorsport 1’37.917
19. Colin Edwards (USA) NGM Mobile Forward Racing 1’38.147
20. Claudio Corti (ITA) NGM Mobile Forward Racing 1’38.334
21. Michael Laverty (GBR) Paul Bird Motorsport 1’38.874
22. Bryan Staring (AUS) Go&Fun Honda Gresini 1’39.708
23. Ivan Silva (SPA) Avintia Racing 1’39.950
24. Lukas Pesek (CZE) Came IodaRacing Project 1’41.692
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