Espargaro ‘feels like I’ve been hit by a truck’ after MotoGP crash

The Spaniard crashed twice in FP1 on Friday, with the second one at Sachsenring’s Turn 1 a highside which knocked the wind out of him.

Espargaro took a blow to his ribs and says he felt “quite a lot of pain” in this area when he woke up on Saturday for qualifying.

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Failing to get directly into Q2 at the end of FP3, Espargaro was denied a place in the pole shootout session by just 0.004 seconds on Saturday afternoon in Q1.

Espargaro says he had painkilling injections in the afternoon, but these didn’t work as expected and he “suffered a lot” as a result.

“Difficult, very difficult,” the Honda rider said when asked to sum up his day. “I feel like one truck went over me, especially I feel quite a lot of plain in the ribs.

“It’s something I expected would be better today, but it was a little bit worse.

“When I woke up this morning I felt very bad and during the morning it did not improve so much.

“Then for the afternoon I got two injections to try to reduce the inflammation and get some painkillers, but it didn’t work as I expected and I suffered a lot.

“I missed the Q2 for 0.004s. This shows you how tight everything is and if you are not fit enough you cannot ride for something interesting.”

Pol Espargaro, Repsol Honda Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Espargaro isn’t the only rider carrying injury in Germany, with Suzuki’s Alex Rins forced to pull out of the rest of the round following FP3 due to pain in the left wrist he fractured in a collision with Takaaki Nakagami – who also has a shoulder injury – in Barcelona.

When asked if there was any point in racing on Sunday given his physical condition, Espargaro replied: “Yeah, taking points. I need to race, it’s my job.

“If I can do laps, I’m gonna do, I’m gonna try.

“I don’t know how the race will be, but I will try for sure, 100%.”