MotoGP | Mir transferred to the hospital with a head injury

The Spaniard, who is the sole representative of the Honda factory team at Termas de Rio Hondo, started from the back of the grid after Marc Marquez was injured in Portugal after a wet qualifying session to forget.

On the first lap of the Sprint, Joan Mir ended up on the ground in a crash that the cameras did not catch, although it was seen that he was being helped by two marshals, who grabbed him one on each side as he trudged on the gravel of the escape route.

After being assisted on the track, an ambulance took him to the plant’s medical centre, where the doctors carried out an initial check-up. The tests ruled out any fractures, but the team of Ángel Charte, the MotoGP medical director, decided to transfer him to the hospital in Santiago del Estero for a full radiological scan.

“Joan suffered a severe contusion in the race, from which he recovered in the first moments. But he had difficulty moving around, so he was taken to the circuit clinic. I examined him and, without alarm, he presented some symptoms that we considered to be having to go deeper”, agreed Charte, as she left the circuit hospital.

“He was always conscious and brain oriented. He has a severe contusion to his right ankle. The initial diagnosis is cranioencephalic trauma, so we will proceed to do a CT scan,” he added.

“The exams we’ve done here don’t reveal that he has a fracture, but, in addition to the complete neurological exam that will be done, we will also do other radiological exams to be able to definitively exclude it,” concluded the Spanish doctor.

Joan Mir already suffered an accident a week ago, in the Portimao Sprint, in which he didn’t even finish the first lap, when he collided with Fabio Quartararo and ended up on the ground. Following that incident, the stewards penalized him with a long lap penalty in Sunday’s race, nullifying his chances of obtaining a better performance.

Joan Mir, Repsol Honda Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images