Factory Honda MotoGP rider Luca Marini has been seriously injured while testing for this year's Suzuka 8 Hour, suffering significant injuries at the Japanese circuit following a crash on Wednesday.
“Having completed a successful first day, the Italian began the second day of his programme but crashed heavily,” said Honda in an official statement.
“Suffering from a dislocated left hip, damage to the ligaments in his left knee, fractures in the sternum and left collarbone, and a right-sided pneumothorax, Marini was transferred to local hospital and stabilised.
“Marini will remain under observation in Japan until he is deemed fit to travel.”
No further information has been released at this time by the team, but the factor of a pneumothorax - a punctured lung, one of the injuries also suffered by reigning world champion Jorge Martin at the Qatar GP last month - likely complicates his recovery by restricting Marini's ability to fly home immediately.
Marini had traveled straight from last weekend's British Grand Prix at Silverstone to Suzuka alongside LCR Honda racer Johann Zarco, who won last year's race for the factory HRC team alongside Takumi Takahashi and Teppei Nagoe, and who will return to action again this year.
It's believed that Marini was under consideration to join Zarco in this year's line-up - but that no decision had been made ahead of the test this week as the team assessed whether Marini, the tallest rider on the MotoGP grid, would be physically compatible with his potential team-mates on their shared superbike.
“We'll have to be see if it's going to be with Takahashi's bike because...he's very small," Marini joked to Italian media after Sunday's race at Silverstone.
"Since it's an endurance race with so many laps to do, I want to do all the necessary assessments and verify that it's comfortable.“
Marini has family history at Suzuka, given that his half brother Valentino Rossi has won the prestigious race, one of a host of top grand prix talents to make the pilgrimage to Honda's home circuit over the years.
This isn't the first time that a high-profile Honda racer has been badly hurt at Suzuka. Then-MotoGP test rider Casey Stoner broke his leg and shoulder during the 2015 running of the race, when a malfunctioning throttle cable on the Musashi Harc Pro Fireblade caused it to stick open.
“This kind of problem hasn't arisen before, however, Honda Racing Corporation will cease using this throttle specification and will design a new one to be used for endurance races,” the team said in a statement after that incident.
“HRC would like to apologise to Casey Stoner and thank him for the effort he made in attending the Suzuka 8 Hour event.”
Honda has not officially confirmed that a stand-in will be required for Marini in MotoGP but considering the extent of his injuries and the fact the next race is in 10 days' time it seems inevitable that it will.
In that scenario it is likely that test rider and race winner Aleix Espargaro, who has already made two wildcard appearances for Honda this year, will be drafted in.
Zarco won't be the only MotoGP rider on the Suzuka 8 Hour grid this year as Pramac Yamaha rider Jack Miller has already been confirmed as part of Yamaha's works line-up.
