Ducati team principal Davide Tardozzi has expressed optimism that Marc Marquez could return to action for the Valencia MotoGP season finale, but stressed that the team will not rush the reigning world champion back into the saddle.
The 32-year-old Spaniard suffered a complex right shoulder injury after a collision with Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi on the opening lap of the Indonesian Grand Prix.
Initially determined to avoid surgery, Marquez was eventually forced to undergo an operation last week after the injury failed to consolidate as expected. The procedure was deemed successful, but Marquez has already been ruled out of both the Australian and Malaysian Grands Prix, and is highly unlikely to return for Portimao.
Ducati has not set a recovery timeline, though medical experts estimate a 16-week healing period for such an injury.
“The injury is quite bad,” Tardozzi told TNT Sport.
“It doesn’t allow him to be in the next two races, so we’ll see how it looks for the last one.
We are hoping he’ll be back for Valencia, but for now, we must wait for the next scan and what the doctors say in two weeks’ time.”
He added:
“We’re crossing our fingers to have him in the final race and also for the post-season Valencia test.
But we must wait and listen to the medical team. We don’t want to rush. Marc suffered a lot in the past when returning too early.
This time, we’ll give him all the time he needs to recover fully from the surgery.”
Meanwhile, Marco Bezzecchi, who topped Friday Practice at Phillip Island, will serve a double long-lap penalty in Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix – a punishment stemming from that very incident in Indonesia.
Michele Pirro, Ducati’s veteran test rider, is standing in for Marquez at Phillip Island and has also been confirmed to continue in Malaysia next weekend.
