Leon Camier forced to withdraw from WorldSBK opener

Leon Camier has been forced to withdraw from the opening round of the 2020 WorldSBK Championship after failing to make sufficient recovery from shoulder surgery over the winter.

The Briton has been struggling with an ongoing shoulder injury since a crash during Round 5 of the 2019 season at Imola, which ruled him out for six events.

Though he returned before the end of the season, another crash in post-season testing with new team Barni Ducati aggravated it to necessitate another surgery over the winter period.

However, despite making it back in time for this weekend’s opener in Australia, fitness concerns forced Camier to pull out before race day.

“I'm really disappointed not to be able to race and I want to apologize all the team. I did everything I can to be ready for this weekend but it was not enough. I keep working to be strong in the next race but it's an evaluation process we made weekly week. It was an hard decision, but for now we decided not to race it was the best.”

A disappointment for team manager Marco Barnabo after being forced to call upon Sandro Cortese for pre-season testing in the hope Camier would be fit in time for the season opener, he is hoping the Briton will be back for round two in Qatar.

 “This morning Leon was still suffering from yesterday and try to race in this condition it was too dangerous. Of course we are very sorry because to be here it was a big effort for us; when Leon back on track in Portimao I was confident he could ride here.

“Unfortunately the situation is worse than we expected and we decided to avoid any risks letting Leon to recover well for the next race.”