After showing such promise in testing, Loris Baz has had issue after issue thrown at him during the 2016 season. In almost every race a technical issue or contact with another rider has seem him struggle to finish races, having to overcome the odds just to score points. Unfortunately the tall French rider’s luck remained terrible in Mugello as he was brought down in the first corner of the first lap along with Alvaro Bautista (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) and Jack Miller (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS) in a racing incident. While the other two were able to walk away, Baz immediately knew that something was not right in his foot and was taken by the medical staff. After the race it was revealed he had fractured the second, third, fourth and fifth metatarsals in his foot, an injury which will require surgery and plating.
With the Catalan GP just a fortnight after Mugello, Baz is in a race against the clock to get back to full health but doesn’t want to rush his comeback and potentially make the situation worse. Baz currently has eight World Championship points and sits 20th overall. It’s now off to Switzerland for Loris Baz where surgery with Dr. Finn Mahler awaits.
Loris Baz: “The race was incredible short for me. I did a good start but there was a lot of traffic on the inside and it was difficult to overtake in the first turn, so I decided to get the outside line, but suddenly someone hit me and I crashed. From the first moment I realized that my foot was broken. I have fractures on the second, third, fourth and fifth metatarsals, and a displacement on the first one. I got the first one set at the circuit medical centre and I will go to the hospital in Geneve on Tuesday to fix the rest. I don’t know how long it will take to recover because is a difficult place and can swell a lot. I will follow the doctor’s instructions because I don’t want to come back soon and take risks for the next races. More than the race I’ll be disappointed if I can’t do the test on after the race in Barcelona, because I really need it.”