Pol Espargaro says he feels "lucky" to walk away relatively unscathed from a monster crash which ruled him out of Tuesday's final day of MotoGP testing from Sepang.
The Spaniard was coming into Turn 4 during a run in the afternoon of Monday's session when the front wheel of his RC16 locked up at 250km/h.
Espargaro hit the barrier lining the track and took several tumbles through the gravel. The session was red-flagged and the KTM rider was taken to the medical centre where checks revealed he has luckily escaped any broken bones.
Suffering a nasty knock to both of his ankles, however, Espargaro decided to sit out the final day of running.
“I feel lucky because I had a big crash on day two and I hit the wall at more than 250km/h,” the Spaniard said.
“I'm happy, not feeling too bad physically but I'm in pain from rolling through the gravel. I had some x-rays and nothing is broken but I have pain when I move.
“So if I am still in pain when I get home I will have some further checks.”
Test rider Mika Kallio took over Espargaro's run plan for Tuesday, something which lessened the blow of missing crucial track time for the Spaniard as he trusts the Finn's feedback.
“Even though I couldn't ride on the final day, it was still good to be with team and be able to work with them in the background,” he added.
“It's a shame to miss day three and not be able to test what we planned, but Mika was able to ride my bike.
“It's good because I trust his feedback 100 percent, and it means we were still able to get a lot of work done here in Sepang.”
