until Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League
LCR Honda rider Alex Marquez has been declared fit for Sunday’s Catalan Grand Prix, less than 24 hours after suffering a concussion during a high-speed crash in practice.
The Spaniard crashed at the Montmelo circuit’s final corner in the final moments of the FP4 session and was forced to sit out qualifying that followed immediately after – but has been given permission to race nonetheless.
Initially concerned about a broken wrist following the crash, he admitted afterwards (as did team boss Lucio Cecchinello) that he had suffered a “small” concussion in the incident, but was already planning on Saturday evening to race on Sunday when he spoke to the media.
“I’ve not got the best feeling, but not bad,” he said. “Nothing is broken, which is the most important thing, just a lot of contusions. Tomorrow I’ve got a check but I’m not bad, and I’m just thinking on my bed tonight and then we’ll see tomorrow morning, but I think I can make the race for sure.
“Yeah, but they did the normal check with Angel Charte and everything was quite normal,” he added when asked by The Race to confirm the diagnosis of concussion. “Just I was worried about the wrist, but nothing is broken and this is the main important thing.
“I will be realistic tomorrow morning about my head concussion, but I feel good now so I think I will not have a problem to make the warm up and the full race.”
That comes despite a renewed focus on concussions both within MotoGP and within sport as a whole, and appears to directly contravene the FIM medical regulations on racing after a diagnosed concussion.
“In the event of a suspected concussion the rider should be assessed using a recognised assessment tool such as SCAT5 or similar,” affording to the protocol. “If the assessment confirms a concussion the rider should immediately be excluded from competition for at least the rest of the event.”
The MotoGP medical team declined to comment when approached by The Race.
