MotoGP teams provide update on injured riders

Marquez and his bike went cartwheeling between Turn 9 and 10 after rear-ending race leader Pedro Acosta, whose bike suddenly slowed with an electrical issue.

The Gresini rider suffered a broken collarbone, which underwent surgery on Sunday following the crash.

Marquez also has a small fracture of his C7 vertebrae, which will not be operated on.

“We’re quite happy about the latest news that we’ve received,” said Gresini sporting director Michele Masini.

“We also had a video call from him to tell us that his surgery on his right collarbone went well.

“We just need to wait on the exam for the C7 but I think that the worst story is passed us now.

“Now we need to get Alex home, have him relax, do some physio and all those things.

“But I think that being able to talk with Alex is already a victory. We are lucky after yesterday’s big scare.

“He said that the crash was impossible to avoid. When he went into the grass it was impossible to turn left because something already broke in the bike. And you know the rest.

“It’s too early to speak about his return. We need a few days after the surgery to know about the shoulder, and of course, his neck. We hope to know something within a few days.”

In a post to social media, Marquez said he was “still very sore and bruised,” following the incident.

He added: “Looking at the images, I can only think that I was very fortunate.”

Honda satellite rider Zarco of LCR took to social media to confirm he had been discharged without any major fractures.

“After the crash in Barcelona during Sunday’s race, Johann Zarco left Hospital Universitari General de Catalunya on Monday afternoon and traveled to France,” LCR said in a statement.

“On Tuesday, he will visit the renowned knee specialist Dr. Bertrand Sonnery-Cottet in Lyon for a further evaluation of his condition and to determine the next steps in his recovery.”

LCR team principal Lucio Cecchinello spoke during Monday’s MotoGP test at Barcelona-Catalunya.

“It’s incredible because since yesterday he keeps saying ‘I want to see images from the start. I don’t know exactly what happened but I’m sure I arrived to the braking with a bit more speed. Maybe I should’ve braked earlier’ and this and that,” said Cecchinello.

“He keeps saying these things, which means that he’s very sad about what happened, both for him and for the riders.

“He’s already in a good mindset saying, ‘OK, it happened, now I want to do the best I can to recover and to return as soon as possible’.”

MotoGP continued at Barcelona-Catalunya on Monday with testing where Pedro Acosta topped a rain-shortened outing.

The factory KTM rider set a 1:38.767s on his 27th lap of 28 riding his RC16.

Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo was second-fastest with a 1:38.831s to his name ahead of KTM satellite riders Enea Bastianini and Maverick Vinales for Tech3.

Australia’s Jack Miller was 16th for Yamaha squad Pramac.

The team said it spent the morning on aerodynamics and chassis development of the Yamaha YZR-M1, with Miller handling the former and Toprak Razgatlioglu the latter.

“It was a busy but productive morning for us,” said Miller.

“We focused mainly on aerodynamic testing and tried many different combinations throughout the session.

“We evaluated our standard fairing, the latest update and also different versions of the new front aero package together with several side pod configurations.

“I think we confirmed some of the progress we already started to see in Le Mans and then carried into this Barcelona weekend.

“The bike is behaving better and I feel we‘ve definitely made some headway with the handling, especially in the corners where we need to keep improving.

“Overall, I think we found some small but important gains.

“Now we head to Mugello, which will be another difficult track for us, but at least we are starting to see all the work from Yamaha, the engineers and the team gradually paying off.”

MotoGP will have one weekend off before returning at Mugello on May 29-31.

Results: MotoGP Barcelona Test