Lorenzo Crashes in Practice Again; This Time He’ll Skip the Race

Reigning MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo has suffered another high-speed crash during free practice ahead of the German Grand Prix at Sachsenring. Lorenzo had a similar crash during practice in the previous round at Assen, but still lined up on the grid to race, finishing fifth despite breaking his collarbone in three places in the accident. This time, however, the Yamaha rider decided to withdraw from the race.

ANALYSIS: Lorenzo’s Assen Crash Data

As was the case in Assen, the Sachsenring crash occurred in the afternoon session after Lorenzo topped the time sheet in the morning practice. Lorenzo was again maintaining a quick pace in the afternoon before suffering a high-side crash, landing heavily on his already injured collarbone.

X-rays revealed Lorenzo had damaged the metal plate he had surgically-inserted to secure the fractured collarbone.

“Second practice here in Sachsenring has gone wrong like in Assen,” says Wilco Zeelenberg, Yamaha factory team manager. “This morning fastest and this afternoon a fast crash on maybe the second or third lap. Again he has hit the left shoulder and the plate has been bent. It’s obviously very painful so we need to consider and step by step decide what the plan is for the coming days.”

Yesterday at the official German Grand Prix press conference, Lorenzo spoke about the Assen race and cautioned other riders against trying to do what he did.

“I think the riders in the future who will have similar injuries to me shouldn’t take my Assen race as the example,” Lorenzo said. “Some friend told me that an Italian rider broke the right arm and he wanted to race the next week or 10 days later and this is not good. It’s not logical and it’s not good. You have to take your body as a feeling. If you feel great to race, if you feel mentally strong … but this race in Assen is not good if it is taken as an example.”

This time, Lorenzo’s taking his own advice. The Spanish rider will return home to Barcelona to go under the knife once again.

[Source: Yamaha]

By Dennis Chung