Jerez.- The Ángel Nieto Circuit in Jerez , which this past weekend hosted the Spanish Grand Prix, is the scene this Monday of the first official test of the season for the drivers of the premier class.
The action on the track started at 10 in the morning and will last until 6 in the afternoon if the rain allows it, since there are showers forecast for the afternoon in the Andalusian city.
The session started with the Honda riders very active, with Marc Márquez first setting the fastest time (1.37.978) after the first half hour, and Pol Espargaró taking over (1.37.556) 50 minutes into the session.
Shortly after passing the first hour of testing, the Japanese of the LCR-Honda team, Takaaki Nakagami, suffered a heavy fall at the end of the finish straight, in turn 1, forcing the red flag and having to stop the activity on the track . The Japanese had 16 laps when he went down.
Taka was evacuated by ambulance to the medical center, just 200 meters from Turn 1, from where the team reported that “the driver is conscious, but he is undergoing a check-up to rule out any injury.”
The team later confirmed that “The X-rays show no fractures, but the driver felt some pain in the ligaments in his left knee, so we decided to take him to Barcelona for an MRI as soon as he landed. He walked out of the paddock.” , in a post on their social networks.
The test resumed after the rider was evacuated and the bike was rescued from the gravel of the first corner, ten minutes after the accident.
All the MotoGP riders are present at this first test of the year with the exception of Raúl Fernández , who continues with the rehabilitation of the injury to his right hand that prevented him from racing in Portimao and also this weekend in Jerez .
Stefan Bradl, a Honda tester who took part in the grand prix as a wild card , is on the list of participants, but at 12 noon he had not been out on the track, although there was activity in his box.
The one who is also in Jerez is Dani Pedrosa, a KTM tester, but the Catalan does not seem to plan to consume one of the test days this Monday, given that the Austrian brand, since it lost the concessions, must ration the appearances of the little Samurai.
