Avintia Racing Ducati’s Tito Rabat explained the extent of the injury he suffered after being hit by Franco Morbidelli during the Silverstone MotoGP weekend.
The Spaniard crashed at Stowe along with several other riders at the end of the FP4 session when it started raining. He was then hit by the Honda of Marc VDS’ Morbidelli, fracturing his leg and had to be airlifted to the hospital.
Rabat has since returned to Barcelona and is under observation in Dexeus University Hospital. The surgery performed in University Hospital of Coventry under the supervision of Angel Charte, Xavier Mir and Ignacio Ginebreda is said to be a crucial one.
The rider also credited MotoGP’s safety team for the quick work to get him operated in time. “At Silverstone we saw how important it is to have the Medical Team in MotoGP and I want to thank all of them for their great work,” he said.
“I also want to thank to those who operated on me in England because they did a great job. I want to return as soon as possible, but I will do what the doctors say. The priority is to recover as soon as possible.
“But in the end, those who rule are them based on the evolution of the leg. The worst of the accident was the pain, which practically has not let me sleep. I never thought about losing my leg, although I saw it twisted like an S when I was laying on the gravel.
“I lost a lot of blood and I got scared. I have learned a lesson and from now on every time I crash again I will look back. At that moment I saw that Rins was warning me to get out of there, and I saw Franco’s bike coming very fast towards me.
“I stand up and the bike hit my leg, otherwise it would have been much worse.” Rabat did not miss the British GP after it was canceled but he is certain to miss this weekend’s San Marino GP with no timeline as yet for his return.
“We have to give it time and we can not fix a date [for return],” said Ginebreda. “Tito will recover as soon as possible, but I dare not give a return date. These kind of fractures take time to consolidate.
“It will be necessary to evaluate the moment he will be able to comeback riding his bike, and the risks that it entails. We have planned several actions to accelerate consolidation to the maximum.
“You can get on the bike before the fractures are fully consolidated, but you always have to assess the existing risks.” The release added that the fractures were correctly fixed and the ligaments and the joints in Rabat’s right leg have not been affected.