Honda MotoGP rider Joan Mir has gone to hospital by helicopter after sustaining an apparent injury in an opening-lap crash in the Argentina sprint.
Mir fell off his Honda towards the end of lap one, having made up two places from his initial starting position of 18th.
It took a while for him to leave the scene of the accident, and he was announced as being taken to the medical centre during the race.
Mir’s ailment was described by MotoGP as a right ankle injury will now follow in a Santiago del Estero hospital for the 25-year-old. Mir’s final Suzuki season last year was heavily disrupted when he broke the same ankle in a crash at the Red Bull Ring.
However, the series’ medical doctor Angel Charte then confirmed to Spanish broadcaster that Mir appears to have suffered a “severe concussion”.
An airlift is necessary in Argentina because the nearest hospital is over an hour away by road.
“No major injuries were detected in the initial checks,” Honda wrote, describing the hospital visit as being for “further precautionary checks after the large impact”.
All of that combined, however, raises the strong possibility of Mir being sidelined for Sunday, which would reduce the MotoGP grid to 17 bikes.
Team-mate Marc Marquez is already absent through injury, caused in a Portimao crash he triggered that also ruled out Miguel Oliveira from this weekend’s Termas de Rio Hondo round. Ducati’s Enea Bastianini and Tech3 Gas Gas rider Pol Espargaro are sidelined too following Portimao incidents.
Mir had had a torrid time of it in his second race weekend as a Honda rider so far.
Initial poor form was followed by a marginal improvement as he zeroed in on a better set-up towards the end of Friday, but he was well out of sorts in a wet-weather qualifying on Saturday morning.
