Saturday debris strike forces Savadori out of Australian MotoGP

Pain and a lack of strength from Saturday's debris strike forced Lorenzo Savadori to pull into the pits and retire on lap 18 of the Australian MotoGP.

The Aprilia test rider, replacing the injured Miguel Oliveira at Trackhouse, was hit on the left elbow at 300km/h by a suspected broken fender from the Maverick Vinales-Marco Bezzecchi clash in the Sprint.

Unsure if he would be able to ride on Sunday, the feeling in his arm returned overnight and, despite some discomfort, he was pronounced fit by medical staff.

The Italian was 18th out of the 21 riders on the opening lap but had dropped to last place when he elected to stop with ten laps still to go.

“Lorenzo didn’t have the strength he needed to change direction and brake, so he came in and retired,” said team manager Wilco Zeelenberg.

“Unfortunately, I had to retire because of yesterday’s incident in the Sprint race,” Savadori confirmed.

“My nerve, in the left elbow, was very painful after I had this big impact and, like yesterday, I also didn’t have any power.

“This morning I had to do the medical check for a fitness assessment and I got declared fit because I felt better.

“But after three, four laps, I started to struggle with less power in the hand and it started to be a risk, so I had to retire.

“It was an unlucky weekend for this reason and I hope to arrive at 100% in Thailand.

“The doctors said I will be fine there, I just need to rest a bit and take some anti-inflammatories.”

Team director Davide Brivio added: “We are grateful to Lorenzo for trying despite the fact that it was difficult with the pain from yesterday. Let’s hope he will be OK for next week. “

VR46’s Fabio di Giannantonio was also hit by debris in the Saturday accident but avoided any injuries. 

Savadori and Brivio felt the Sprint race should have been red-flagged due to the debris.

Meanwhile, Savadori’s team-mate Raul Fernandez rode to tenth place in Sunday's grand prix, despite a poor start.

“I’m really happy with our race,” he said. “We made a big mistake at the start and we lost five or six seconds to the second group but, after that, I had the same pace as them nearly all the race.

“We had a lot of wheelie from the start and for some reason, I couldn’t go further to the front and I had to close the throttle so there I lost many places but, in the last part of the race, I was catching them.

“I’m happy with our pace, basically, it was a really good race for us and we just need to understand what we have to do to start well because at the end of the day, this is the key in MotoGP.

“I was starting from the second row, but at the end of the first lap I was in P13 and it’s quite difficult to overtake although, finally, my pace was good and this is the positive part of the weekend that I take to Thailand.”