Joan Mir home after internal injuries force week-stay in hospital

Suzuki MotoGP's Joan Mir is confirmed with bruising of the lungs as he is allowed to return home a week after his high-speed crash in Brno, Czech Republic

Joan Mir - Suzuki Ecstar MotoGP

SUZUKI Ecstar MotoGP rider Joan Mir has been allowed to return home a full week after an accident during testing at Brno left him with internal injuries that led to breathing difficulties.

Mir crashed towards the end of the one-day test in the Czech Republic, the resulting fall seeing him roll through the gravel a number of times, causing a pulmonary contusion that required him to be airlifted to hospital.

Though Mir was originally cleared of serious injury, the contusion remained a concern for doctors at the FN Bohunice University Hospital in Brno. 

After three days he was transferred to Barcelona and the specialist Dexeus University Hospital for further treatment overseen by Dr Angel Charte, MotoGP’s Doctor and Head of the Internal Medicine Unit, where bruising of the lungs was confirmed.

“After extensive tests, including several CT scans, the group of doctors detected that the lung still had inflammation due to the large amount of bruising,” read a Suzuki statement. “They therefore decided to keep him in and give him daily checks to expedite his recovery and avoid possible complications. 

“Four days later, the same medical team have decided, after a last round of tests that revealed an improvement, to let Joan go home - where he will continue to rest until another medical check next week at the same Hospital.”

'They were finding parts in the trees...'

No confirmation of what caused Mir’s accident has been officially communicated but it is understood a technical issue was the reason for the fall, which occurred at high-speed on the run down to turn one.

Such was the ferocity of the smash the bike vaulted the air fence and landed in the relief road, while there are claims Suzuki were finding parts of Mir’s GSX-RR in the trees such was the impact.

Though Suzuki didn’t field a second bike alongside Alex Rins in Austria, it is contractually obliged to do at the next event, regardless of whether Mir is fit to ride or not. The next British MotoGP round takes place on August 23-25, with Sylvain Guintoli the likely deputy if Mir cannot race.