LCR Honda rider Johann Zarco has issued his first detailed health update since he got trapped in Pecco Bagnaia’s Ducati in a terrible crash at the Catalan Grand Prix.
Zarco had speared into fellow Honda rider Luca Marini at the restart of the race – which had followed a lengthy red flag for a crash involving Alex Marquez, who is also in hospital and whose injuries are more substantial – and went into Bagnaia’s Ducati, his left leg getting lodged between the swingarm and the seat unit.
It meant he was violently dragged through the gravel by the tumbling Ducati.
As the race was red-flagged again Zarco was attended to by the medical staff – before being taken to the medical centre and then the hospital.
But initial fears of a significant femoral injury or anything significant in the upper part of the body were gradually assuaged with updates from the team.
In a post on Instagram, Zarco has recorded himself in hospital bed wearing a neck brace – but suggested this was nothing significant.
He instead suggested there was damage to the cruciate ligaments – an unsurprising outcome given his leg was twisted up in the bike – and to the fibula.
However, he confirmed the femur is not fractured.
He ultimately described the injuries as “more of a scare than anything”.
Yet, in a subsequent update released by his LCR team, the list of injuries suggested a potential significant recovery period.
LCR said Zarco “sustained injuries to the anterior and posterior cruciate ligament [ACL and PCL], and to the medial meniscus” in the knee, and “a small fibula tear in the ankle area”.
He will remain in hospital overnight for observation before travelling to France on Monday.