LCR Honda is back down to one rider, as Takaaki Nakagami has been declared unfit for the Czech Republic Grand Prix.
After an incident with Augusto Fernandez during Saturday's Sprint Race, Takaaki Nakagami has been declared unfit for Sunday's Grand Prix.
On the second lap of the Sprint, Fernandez lost the rear and made contact with Nakagami, who has been riding in the LCR Honda garage in place of the injured Somkiat Chantra.
It initially appeared that both riders had escaped injury, but Nakagami was later diagnosed with a posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) tear in his right knee.
An LCR statement confirmed: "What was first believed to be a minor contusion was later diagnosed as a PCL tear in his right knee. An MRI scan will be performed to confirm the extent of the injury. As a result, Takaaki Nakagami will not take part in Sunday’s race at Brno."
Nakagami added: "Augusto hit me at the apex. I had a big impact and damaged my right knee. At first, I didn’t feel much pain, but later it started to feel really strange.
"After checks at the Medical Centre, they found a ligament injury. So, unfortunately, I’m unfit for tomorrow and will return to Japan for further examination."
For causing the incident, Fernandez has been handed a long lap penalty by the FIM MotoGP Stewards.
"First of all, I want to say 'Sorry' to Takaaki Nakagami and also to my team, because it was my mistake," said Fernandez.
"The riders ahead of me braked earlier than I expected, and I got sucked in by the slipstream. I knew I was going to have contact with Taka, so I tried to put the bike on the ground before the impact to make it smoother.
"All in all, it was a hard day. Because we had no dry track time yesterday, we had to do everything this morning. Still, I wasn't super far. Even though I'm last on the grid, I was about 1s from Fabio's qualifying lap, which is not so bad on a 2-minute track.
"I felt confident I could do a good Sprint race, or at least get some information for tomorrow, but it ended early for me. Sorry again to Taka."
