Lorenzo escapes serious injury in fast FP1 crash

Reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo has suffered an awful start to his German Grand Prix weekend, crashing at the infamous turn 11 waterfall.

The Spaniard lost the front end of his Yamaha YZF-M1 at the right hander, the first right hander after seven left handers, meaning the right hand side of the tyre naturally cools over that period.

Lorenzo lost the front end of his bike early in the session, and alarm bells rung immediately with the World Champion limping and looking at his left hand whilst walking away from the scene of the accident.  

Just lost the front end with the cold tyre, did the World Champion https://t.co/OAO89OcOoY

— GPxtra (@GP_Xtra) July 15, 2016

He then jumped on the back of a service scooter and was taken to the Clinica Mobile for further checks and x-rays on his wrist and ankle. X-Rays showed that thankfully there was no fracture in his left hand or wrist, despite the pain, although he was diagnosed with a right ankle sprain.

Rain had just started to fall when Lorenzo hit the deck – he was closely followed by Stefan Bradl in the gravel at T11 – and with rain in the rain in Saxony, Lorenzo’s participation in FP2 remains up in the air. However, with Lorenzo ending the session twelfth, he will need to deliver in FP3 to avoid having to take part in Q1 tomorrow afternoon.

The session was topped by Ducati’s Andrea Iannone, with World Championship leader Marc Marquez second. 

Photos via Dorna and Movistar Yamaha