Avintia MotoGP rider Johann Zarco will undergo surgery for a broken wrist on Wednesday after a fracture was found as a consequence of his Austrian Grand Prix shunt.
The Frenchman was caught up in a terrifying smash during Sunday’s Austrian GP along with Franco Morbidelli, the pair going down at roughly 300kmh on approach to Turn 3 after Zarco moved across the Petronas SRT Yamaha into the braking zone.
The resulting contact caused both to go down and slide across the infield, with their bikes narrowly missing both factory Yamahas of Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi as they tackled Turn 3.
It was found on Monday that Zarco had in fact fractured the scaphoid in his right wrist, forcing him to undergo surgery on Wednesday in order to install a screw into the injured bone in order to aid his recovery.
Zarco told French publication L’Equipe that his intention was to compete in this weekend’s Styrian GP – also at the Red Bull Ring – despite having had surgery less than 48 hours prior to first practice.
“It’s a classic procedure, with the placement of a screw to fix the broken bone,” said Zarco.
“I will be back in Austria on Thursday morning for a medical check-up to see whether or not I am able to ride this weekend for the second race organised at the Red Bull Ring.”
Zarco becomes the second MotoGP rider this season to fracture his scaphoid after LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow injured his during warm-up for the Spanish GP at Jerez last month.
Crutchlow returned for the Andalucian GP at the same venue just a few days later, but struggled to make the race distance and was forced to pit to rest his uninjured arm after having to rely on it to wrestle his RC213-V around the twisty Jerez layout.
He also scored points in the subsequent two races at Brno and last weekend’s event at the Red Bull Ring, although he continues to struggle with the injury.
