Jorge Navarro recalls red flag horror: “All the ingredients for tragedy”

Pons rider Navarro fell and was struck by Simone Corsi, sustaining a broken femur and internal bleeding, but the race was controversially not red flagged as he lay injured.

MotoGP riders including Marc Marquez have demanded answers and now Navarro, who remains in an Australian hospital after surgery, has revealed his horrendous ordeal.

“It was like a train passed over me,” he told AS. “I didn't feel where it hit me. I just felt that my leg was going to Sydney, as I jokingly say. 

“It was a super weird fall and, when I had not yet fallen completely, I noticed that something was happening over me and that I could not feel my leg. It was kind of loose. When I saw it, one part of the leg was looking one way and the other was looking at the other and I understood that it was something serious. 

“I immediately signalled with my hands to the marshalls to come and assist me and stop the race. 

“I was very broken and I couldn't even breathe and I became very nervous. The leg was in pieces and Corsi came to help me and took off my helmet, because I couldn't even breathe. 

“As he did so, the blood from his finger that had become annoyed fell on my leg and when I saw the blood on my leg I collapsed, because I thought it was mine.

“With a lot of blood on top I was very scared. I remembered Tito Rabat at Silverstone, when he fell, was run over. 

“[I was] a metre from the track and the bikes were passing so close and super fast. I was dying in pain. Honestly, the worst moment of my life.”

Navarro said about the inexplicable decision not to red flag the race: “I cannot explain it and nobody has given me any explanation. I don't get it. I don't know what else has to happen for them to raise a red flag in a situation like this. 

“The bikes passed a metre-and-a-half from me. Yes it is true that it is not a frequent point of fall, but two laps before I had fallen. Above that there was a bit of a side wind coming out of that curve. 

“All the ingredients were given for there to be a tragedy. Luckily, it was not my turn that day, but this cannot be repeated and we must take action on the matter. You can't let it go just like that and I don't know whose decision it was not to take out a red flag.

“I am a lucky guy and I was able to leave without problems other than a couple of months off. There could have been another fatality.

“For me, the worst is over. I found myself in shit lying on the side of the track, unable to move, and only with a marshall protecting me. 

“Once I arrived at the hospital, everything has been more downhill. 

“Now the most complicated thing is to return home, because of the thrombus issues, and start rehabilitation, because right now my leg weighs me about three tons.”

Navarro explained about surgery on his leg: “According to what the doctors told me, everything went well. When I arrived at the hospital, the femur was broken and very displaced. 

“In addition, the femoral artery, which is one of the largest in the body, had lost a lot of blood. 

“Luckily they were able to put a super long needle going from the hip to the knee and the bone is already in the place it touches. Now it's time to recover the muscles little by little.

But this is the least of it and I have the motivation and desire to return to the bike, which are intact.”

Navarro will miss his home race, the Valencia Moto2, before joining World Supersport next season. His passion for racing remains.

“Because I think I still have a lot to give and that anger is what will give me the strength to achieve what I think I am prepared to achieve. 

“It has been a tough year, in which I hurt myself from the first moment and I have not felt good with the bike. It is true that there has not been good communication at a technical level with the team and the results have not lived up to my quality or my expectations, but that does not mean that I am going to fall apart. 

“I will continue to fight and I know that my level is higher than shown. I just want to be in the right place to be able to shine and I think next year I will have that opportunity and give my 100 percent.”

Sergio Garcia will replace Navarro in the 2023 Moto2 rider line-up alongside Aron Canet.