MotoGP doctor: Lorenzo ready for Round 1 ‘without doubt’

MotoGP doctor Xavier Mir has declared Jorge Lorenzo likely to recover for the Qatar pre-season test and definitely for the opening round of 2019 at the same circuit.

The new Repsol Honda rider had surgery for a broken scaphoid in his left wrist on Monday after an accident during off-season training, and was subsequently ruled out of the first full test of the year at Sepang on February 6-8.

However, Dr Mir is confident that Lorenzo will make the next test at the Losail International Circuit on February 23-25, and even more so that the Spaniard will be fit for the grand prix on March 10.

Dr Mir also confirmed that the injury was not related to that which the Spaniard sustained in a crash during practice for last October’s Thailand MotoGP.

“It’s interesting that it’s the same wrist,” Dr Mir, the championship’s traumatology specialist, told MotoGP.com.

“On this wrist he’s had two injuries; one was an injury to the radius and then an injury to the ligament next to the scaphoid. In this case it was a fracture to the scaphoid itself and unrelated to the previous injury.

“The idea is to keep it immobilised for four days then at his home in Lugano he will start gentle rehabilitation.

“We’ll look at it again in around 10 days, then the idea is to make the rehabilitation more and more intensive so that he can recover for the Qatar test and, without doubt, for the race in Qatar.”

Dr Mir also gave more detail around the procedure, which involved inserting a screw in Lorenzo’s hand.

“The scaphoid is a bone that doesn’t heal easily, and for this reason they always – not just for professional athletes but normal people too – try to fix the bone with a minimally invasive technique,” he explained.

“That involves passing a screw, specially made for scaphoids which means that when this injury would once have taken various months to mend, you can now begin rehabilitation after just 10 days.”

Lorenzo will attend tonight’s (AEDT) Repsol Honda season launch with new team-mate Marc Marquez, who underwent shoulder surgery last month, in Madrid.