Oliveira declared unfit for the Australian Grand Prix

Following Saturday’s horror-crash on entry into Turn 1, Red Bull KTM Tech 3’s Miguel Oliveira has been declared unfit for the Pramac Generac Australian Grand Prix. The Portuguese rookie crashed a high-speed during yesterday’s red-flagged FP4 session and due to pain and swelling in both of his hands, he is unable to ride today.

Although initial x-rays showing that nothing is broken, Oliveira will have an MRI scan later today as he fears there is some possible ligament damage to his right wrist. Speaking to MotoGP™ pitlane reporter Simon Crafar during warm-up at Phillip Island, he confirmed the crash was caused by a “strong gust of wind” that eventually lead to Saturday’s remaining premier class action being cancelled.

“At the moment, the hospital was calling me and that’s why I was stressing out because we’re going to have an MRI today on the right wrist because it’s still hurting,” said Oliveira from Phillip Island pitlane. “Obviously, they can’t see anything broken in the hand on the x-ray, but we suspect that there might be further injuries, maybe in the ligaments or something. We’re going to check that out today and have a full report tomorrow morning.”

“In my opinion, I think I got some turbulence from Zarco’s bike but, in that moment, I got hit by a strong gust of wind. Yesterday there was a crosswind on the start-finish straight and it was really hard for us just to go straight.

“For some reason, our bike was a little more sensitive to this and I was at 24 degrees [lean angle] from the moment I grabbed the brakes, just trying to lean in and, as you saw, it wasn’t possible to make the corner and the rest is history. I’m just glad I’m here talking about it.”