FOUL WEATHER at Estoril was the blamed as the primary cause for a record number of crashes at the Portuguese GP weekend, with 118 falls, the most since records started in 1996.
Topping the action was a five-bike pile-up on the first lap of the 125 race, along with numerous other crashes in practice, warm-up, qualifying and raceday, throughout all of the racing schedule. Even newly-crowned MotoGP World Champion Jorge Lorenzo played a part in the stats, crashing out of practice in slippery conditions.
Despite the high tally there were remarkably few injuries: Moto2’s Alex Debon and 125 rider Luca Marconi both broke collarbones; Iwema suffered a right shoulder injury that ruled him out of the restart.
The top-ten crash list is as follows:
Estoril 2010 – 118
Donington Park 2007 – 109
Le Mans 2009 – 96
Donington Park 2005 – 93
Estoril 2002 – 90
Valencia 2008 – 83
Phillip Island 2008 – 83
Donington Park 2008 – 75
Suzuka 2002 – 75
Le Mans 2003 – 72
