Smith out of Catalan GP

Posted on Jun 11, 2017 by MotoGP™

Bradley Smith is out of the Grand Prix of Catalunya after crashing in FP4 in the scorching heat at the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit on Saturday afternoon. The Oxfordshire rider crashed the KTM at turn two and damaged the little finger on his left hand. He was immediately transferred to hospital in Barcelona.

Update
While Race Direction initially declared during qualifying that the Red Bull KTM rider was not fit to start the race, Smith was subsequently examined in a Barcelona hospital by MotoGP medical director Xavi Mir and still considered a potential starter in the 25-lap grand prix.

However, the Briton’s team has since confirmed that, after further medical checks at the track, the rider of bike #38 will miss the race due to soreness in his left pinky finger.

Bradley Smith (Factory Rider MotoGP):
“Unfortunately, I had a crash at Turn 2, a high-side, and I think my hand got stuck underneath the handlebar, just for a split second, but it was enough to take the skin back off an old injury, from 2013,”

“We went to hospital, cleaned the wound, made sure it’s as clean as possible, with no dirt inside. “This morning, we visited the medical centre and as a complete group decided it was safer to sit out the GP as the risk of infection really high.

“Hopefully in the next three or four days we’ll check the wound and decide if I need any plastic surgery, and if not I’ll be back fully fit and ready for Assen (Round 8, June 23-25).”

The timeline already rules Smith out of Monday’s official test in Barcelona and KTM’s private testing at the circuit on the following two days.

Audio link from Bradley here: