Bradley Smith will sit out tonight’s Catalan Grand Prix due to a finger injury.
Smith crashed during Free Practice 4 and missed the following qualifying session.
While Race Direction initially declared during qualifying that the Red Bull KTM rider was not fit to start the race, Smith was subsequently examined in a Barcelona hospital by MotoGP medical director Xavi Mir and still considered a potential starter in the 25-lap grand prix.
However, the Briton’s team has since confirmed that, after further medical checks at the track, the rider of bike #38 will miss the race due to soreness in his left pinky finger.
“Unfortunately, I had a crash at Turn 2, a high-side, and I think my hand got stuck underneath the handlebar, just for a split second, but it was enough to take the skin back off an old injury, from 2013,” said Smith.
“We went to hospital, cleaned the wound, made sure it’s as clean as possible, with no dirt inside.
“This morning, we visited the medical centre and as a complete group decided it was safer to sit out the GP as the risk of infection really high.
“Hopefully in the next three or four days we’ll check the wound and decide if I need any plastic surgery, and if not I’ll be back fully fit and ready for Assen (Round 8, June 23-25).”
The timeline already rules Smith out of Monday’s official test in Barcelona and KTM’s private testing at the circuit on the following two days.
Meanwhile, Suzuki Ecstar rider Sylvain Guintoli has set out in the morning warm up after he too missed qualifying.
The Frenchman was suffering from dizziness, which was later revealed to have been caused by an adverse reaction to a painkiller.
“I went for a painkiller treatment to my arm, right before the FP3, which is pretty standard procedure for me and many riders,” said Guintoli.
“Unfortunately, I had an unexpected reaction to the injection.
“This caused me not to feel fully right for riding, and the team decided not to allow me to run in qualifying.”
The Catalan Grand Prix starts at 2200 AEST.
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