until Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League
Ducati MotoGP factory rider Enea Bastianini will join Marc Marquez in sitting out a second straight MotoGP round in full, skipping this weekend’s race meeting at COTA.
Bastianini suffered a shoulder blade fracture following a collision with fellow Ducati rider Luca Marini in the Portimao sprint, ruled out of the rest of the weekend on the spot.
It was immediately announced that he would not be travelling to Termas de Rio Hondo in Argentina for the second round of the championship, but Ducati had held out hope he could be fit in time for round three at the Austin-based Circuit of the Americas.
However, Ducati has now confirmed Bastianini “will require more time to fully recover” and instead target a return to Jerez.
The team says Bastianini “completed a few laps” with a Panigale V4S superbike at Misano to test his fitness, but was then diagnosed as not being fit enough to compete in a follow-up check-up with Dr. Giuseppe Porcellini in Forli.
Test rider Michele Pirro will take his place on the grid in the Texan round.
The 36-year-old has had eight MotoGP starts in the last three years, and did race at COTA back in 2016, standing in for Danilo Petrucci at Ducati satellite squad Pramac. He finished eighth.
Pirro’s call-up means that there will be at least two stand-ins competing at COTA, with Jonas Folger already confirmed as replacing Pol Espargaro at Tech3 Gas Gas.
And with Marquez sidelined for COTA, it seems logical that Honda will need to replace him, too, albeit it hasn’t yet confirmed the likely candidate – tester Stefan Bradl – for the seat.
