Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo is one of the latest entrants to the MotoGP list of injured riders as a freak running accident has led to an ankle injury and big toe fracture. The 2023 MotoGP season has been fraught with far too many riders injuring themselves on track and even off it.
Aleix Espargaro was one of the recent ones as a biking incident left him injured before the race in Mugello. There have been other riders as well like Marc Marquez, Francesco Bagnaia, Enea Bastianini, and Miguel Oliveira that have injured themselves on track as well.
Arguably though, in all of this, Fabio Quartararo's injury could just be one of the more freak injuries as the Yamaha rider was just running and twisted his ankle. As quoted by The Race, he said:
“I crashed… running. I twisted my ankle, twisted my big toe, and I will have an x-ray in one hour. Hopefully nothing really big.”
When questioned if the injury could impact his race, Fabio Quartararo shrugged it off by saying it's just part of the job. He said:
“I would say no, but I will take some painkillers because it’s exactly where I have to shift [my body], where I have to really put some weight on, to change direction. So, I will be much more tired, but it’s part of the job.”
Fabio Quartararo looking forward to racing this weekend
Fabio Quartararo is looking forward to racing in Assen this weekend. The rider has been successful at the track in the past and even won the race from Maverick Vinales in 2021. He was however skeptical of how the bike would work around the track.
Yamaha has not been competitive on any track this season and Fabio Quartararo admitted that if the bike wasn't good here, it won't be good anywhere else either. He said:
“For me it’s clearly a track that, if we don’t go fast here, we won’t be fast anywhere. Because I think that basically, it’s one of my favourite tracks, personally I’ve always been fast at the track. Even if we have some difficulties with the bike. In Sachsenring we expected to be fast, we were not fast. So hopefully we can make a great result and go holidaying in a great position.”
The Yamaha rider and the former MotoGP champion has had a season from hell in 2023. The rider who used to be a common fixture at the front of the grid has been unable to even challenge for a podium this season, let alone win a race.