Tito Rabat says his right leg was “twisted like an 'S'” after he was struck by Franco Morbidelli's Honda while stood in the Stowe gravel at Silverstone during MotoGP FP4.
The Avintia rider was one of several to crash at Stowe during a sudden downpour at Stowe, and suffered a triple fractured right leg when Morbidelli's bike hit him after the Italian crashed behind him.
Rabat was taken to hospital in Coventry for “emergency surgery” on Saturday, where he remained until Thursday before returning to Barcelona.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday in Barcelona, Rabat admits he was “very scared” immediately after seeing his leg and praised the work of the Silverstone medical staff.
It was also confirmed no return date has been set, but that his “priority” is to “recover as soon as possible”.
“At Silverstone we saw how important it is to have the Medical Team in MotoGP and I want to thank all of them for their great work,” he said.
“I also want to thank to those who operated on me in England because they did a great job. I want to return as soon as possible, but I will do what the doctors say.
“The priority is to recover as soon as possible, but in the end, those who rule are them based on the evolution of the leg.
“The worst of the accident was the pain, which practically has not let me sleep. I never thought about losing my leg, although I saw it twisted like an 'S' when I was laying on the gravel.
“I lost a lot of blood and I got scared. I have learned a lesson and from now on every time I crash again I will look back.
“At that moment I saw that Rins was warning me to get out of there, and I saw Franco’s bike coming very fast towards me, I stand up and the bike hit my leg, otherwise it would have been much worse.”
Avintia is yet to announce who will replace Rabat for this weekend's Misano round, and will do so within the next couple of days.
Ducati test rider Michele Pirro would ordinarily be the obvious choice, but is scheduled to race with the factory Ducati squad as a wildcard this weekend.
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