(Reuters) – Ducati’s MotoGP world champion and current leader Francesco Bagnaia is planning to race in Misano this weekend, only days after he fell and was run over at the Catalan Grand Prix.
The Italian escaped bruised but with no broken bones after he was thrown off his bike onto the track in a mass crash on the opening lap of last Sunday’s race with his legs then hit by KTM’s Brad Binder.
“On Sunday night, I went back home with the team, and after getting some rest, I immediately started preparing to be ready to return to the track in Misano,” Bagnaia said in a Ducati factory team statement.
“On Thursday, I will undergo the medical checkup at the circuit, and if, as I hope, the doctors give me the OK, I will be able to get on track on Friday for the first practice of my home Grand Prix.
“I will do my best to be able to race on Saturday and Sunday.”
The San Marino and Rimini Riviera Grand Prix at the Misano circuit is the 12th round of the 20-race season. Bagnaia has a 50 point lead over Spanish rider Jorge Martin, who races for Ducati-supported Pramac Racing.
Ducati said Enea Bastianini, Bagnaia’s team mate, had surgery in Modena on Monday after fracturing his left hand and ankle at the Circuit de Catalunya and would miss India and Japan as well as Misano.
Bastianini, 18th in the standings, will not be replaced in the line-up for Misano.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Alexander Smith)
