There is "hope and plan" for LCR Honda rider Johann Zarco to return to MotoGP competition before the end of the 2026 season, team owner Lucio Cecchinello has revealed.
Zarco suffered a significant knee injury, when his leg got lodged between the wheel and the seat unit of Pecco Bagnaia's Ducati in a crash, during MotoGP's twice-interrupted Catalan Grand Prix in the middle of May.
Alex Marquez was another injured party in that race in a separate accident, and has already returned to MotoGP action - practicing and qualifying last time out at Brno, though he withdrew from the races.
But Zarco was always long known to be facing a much longer lay-off, with his left-leg injuries including tears to the anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments and damage to the medial meniscus, along with substantial skin burns.
Over a month on from the crash he is yet to have surgery to repair the damage in his knee, as per his last update, due to "a risk of infection". But he has returned to training.
The Race spoke to his team boss Cecchinello, whose LCR outfit has been ably spearheaded by Zarco since the start of 2024, at Brno.
When asked what he understands the recovery timeline for Zarco to be once the necessary surgery can be carried out, Cecchinello explained: "The reality is that surgery like that, it can take six-seven-eight months [to return] if you are a football player. It can take maybe up to nine months if you are participating in the Ski World Cup. It can take between three and four months if you are a MotoGP rider.
"Why can it take less time? Because, as you know, the mechanical stress on a rider's leg is very limited. And it doesn't imply any kind of potential rotation. I mean the rotation between the leg, the upper leg and the lower leg, in the joint, it can happen only in case of a nasty crash. But normally it's very rare that you twist your upper leg with your lower leg.
"So let's say that there is still for me hope and plan to have Johann back within this year. I hope it will happen."
The MotoGP season concludes at Valencia at the end of November. Testing of prototypes (and new Pirelli rubber) for the new 850cc regulations kicking in next year has begun concurrently with the campaign, and Zarco was undoubtedly due to play a major role in it for Honda - already having a contract in place for 2027.
Old LCR favourite Cal Crutchlow returned from retirement to replace Zarco on the bike in the last three rounds, and is set to continue in the role for the foreseeable future.
How Zarco is doing
According to Cecchinello, Zarco quickly overcame the initial anguish of the Barcelona injury.
"He's really calm," said Cecchinello. "He understands that, in a motorcycle racing career, a rider career, some nasty accidents can happen. They happened unfortunately to many other riders and champions in the past.
"But eventually you have two choices after such a dramatic situation. Either to give up or to come back stronger. And he's absolutely now focused on coming back stronger.
"He said to me from day two - I would say 'day two' because on day one it was quite difficult to digest the situation. But from day two he said, 'I want to come back stronger'.
"And finally he said to me: 'There are a lot of negative things around this accident, but I have to concentrate on the positive things. And the positive thing is that now I will have time to work on my physical preparation better than any time in the past. I can work on strengthening my cardio. I can work on strengthening my ability to react quick to external factors. I can work to improve my equilibrium. I can work to improve my visual perception.'
"So he's very focused on using that amount of time to work on himself, to work on his body. Of course with limitation - because he cannot bend the leg yet.
“But one leg, let's say it represents maybe 25% of your body. So he will work hard on the other 75%."
from The Race https://ift.tt/EOfjqQ4
No comments: