Jorge Lorenzo says his fractured left wrist felt “even worse than expected” during his only lap of the MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix in FP1 before withdrawing from the event.
Lorenzo suffered a suspected hairline fracture in his left wrist in a heavy crash caused by a bike issue in FP2 in Thailand, though a further scan in Japan this week revealed he had in fact sustained a complete fracture.
Declared fit to ride on Thursday after passing a medical check, Lorenzo cast doubt over his participation at Motegi, and indeed only completed one out-lap in FP1 before deciding to pull out for the second race in a row.
Lorenzo admits missing Japan is a “sad moment”, as the nature of Motegi was “perfect” for the Ducati and for his chances of securing a strong result.
“For me, it's a sad moment because I really wanted to race in this track, especially in this track because it is one of my favourites,” he said.
“It's a very grippy track and for our bike it is perfect to make a good result. But my efforts to accelerate the recovery, the recovery didn't go as I expected, I didn't recover as I imagined.
“So yesterday I imagined I wouldn't feel very well on the bike and when I try the bike in the first corners I felt even worse than expected because on hard braking I couldn't push my left wrist, almost nothing, a lot of pain, especially in the left ones, and especially even worse in the change of direction.
“So I wasn't fast, I wasn't comfortable, I was not safe, so was no meaning to keep going like this.2
With the Australian Grand Prix just six days away, Lorenzo says he will have another MRI on his wrist before likely travelling to Phillip Island having not given up hope of racing there, though concedes he does not expect to “feel very good” there.
“Now the plan is go to the closest hospital to make an MRI to understand not only the bone, but also outside of the bone, how is going the injury.
“Then take some conclusions, but obviously today if I did not ride I would not be much better in Phillip Island in just six days.
“So I don't expect to feel very good there, but I don't close this possibility [to race in Australia] because probably I will go anyway to Phillip Island.
“So let's see how I feel on Wednesday, on Thursday, and let's take the decision.”
