After suffering a vascular problem in his left hand while at home, Reale Avinita Racing’s Tito Rabat has decided to sit out the race at the Motul Grand Prix of Japan in order to be as fit as possible for next weekend’s Australian GP.
The Spaniard stopped during a wet FP3 after his vascular issue was causing him trouble. Rabat was due to be handed a penalty in Japan for going over the maximum engine usage, but with him missing the race, Chairman of the FIM MotoGP™ Stewards Panel Freddie Spencer has confirmed that this will not be carried over to Phillip Island.
“Yesterday I decided to stop,” said Rabat, speaking to motogp.com pitlane reporter Simon Crafar during MotoGP™ Warm Up. “After the FP3 I felt down and I decided to stop and to get well for Australia. This circuit has many hard brakes, it is a special one, you have to push and you need to have a very good lines and it is very demanding for the body. We lost some time yesterday because of the rain, how hard is it to find the right time for the race. It’s more difficult but all the riders have to find the best tyres but I think that many of them know which one to use from Friday”.
Hopefully we’ll see the Ducati man on track at Phillip Island in under a weeks’ time.