Espargaro suffers ‘no serious injuries’ after brutal crash, race still in doubt

Repsol Honda rider Pol Espargaro will be further assessed ahead of today’s MotoGP race at Valencia after missing qualifying due to a brutal FP3 accident. 

The Spanish rider lost the rear of his RC213V coming around turn 13 which then launched Espargaro off his machine before landing heavily on his head and right side. 

After being taken to the medical centre immediately, it was then confirmed that Espargaro would take no further part in Saturday’s action as the FP4 session was happening. 

Luckily for Honda, who are already missing Marc Marquez due to a vision problem, Espargaro suffered ‘no serious injuries’ ahead of next week’s crucial MotoGP test.

But before that, it’s still to be determined whether Espargaro can race today, something that will become clearer during warm-up.

"Unfortunately today I had a very big crash during FP3 at Turn 13. The impact was very hard but fortunately I have no serious injuries and nothing appears broken in the tests we did at the hospital," said Espargaro. 

"At the moment I have a lot of pain from around my ribs when I breathe, this is what hurts most. 

"I’m really disappointed because we had great speed and I was feeling really confident. 

"I’m sorry for my team. Tonight we will rest, take painkillers and see what the situation is in the morning."