Valentino Rossi has spoken of his relief on learning his brother Luca Marini escaped serious injury in a brutal high-side during the early stages of the Moto2 World Championship FP2 session in Le Mans, France.
Held much later in the year than usual due to the revised 2020 MotoGP schedule, cold and wet conditions greeted the paddock in FP1 and FP2 across both classes, and though Moto2’s latter outing came towards the end of the day, damp patches were still causing havoc.
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This was the case for Marini, the current Moto2 leader, who was coming under the Dunlop bridge and over the crest towards the beginning of the lap when he was flicked from his Sky Italia VR46 into a spiralling high-side that not only caught height but dealt a heavy landing and a skid down the hill towards the next bend.
Taken to hospital for an evaluation, Marini is believed to have escaped without any ankle fractures, even if he remains a doubt to race this weekend.
BIG crash for @Luca_Marini_97 in FP2
The #Moto2 championship leader got launched from his bike on the fast downhill Turn 5 left-hander #FrenchGP pic.twitter.com/Frg2olJLZX
— MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) October 9, 2020
The incident certainly caught the attention of brother Rossi, who was relieved Marini remained relatively unscathed before turning his ire at a circuit he says is ‘dangerous’ in such cool conditions.
"I spoke with Luca. He's okay. I was scared because it was a very bad crash, but fortunately the dynamic is not so bad. So he's generally good and this is very important," Rossi said.
"Maybe he has a small fracture to the left malleolus. It's a problem because you have three races in a row and the left foot is for the gearbox. Now he is at the hospital to check more deeply.
“Today the conditions were very dangerous. Very much at the limit, because it's not just wet but also very cold and this afternoon with the slick tyres, with this temperature that is less than 20 degrees on the ground, it was very difficult and very dangerous. Also because of wet patches,"
