Johann Zarco will return to MotoGP action on Saturday at the Red Bull Ring after being declared fit following a medical examination on Friday afternoon in Austria.
The Avintia racer suffered a fractured scaphoid during his horror crash with Franco Morbidelli in last weekend’s Austrian GP, which was also held at the Red Bull Ring.
The Frenchman moved in front of the Petronas SRT Yamaha into the Turn 3 braking zone, causing the M1 to become destabilised and clatter into the rear of Zarco’s Ducati.
The duo went down as a result of the contact, while the pair’s bikes flew across the infield and subsequently across the track at Turn 3 – narrowly missing the unsuspecting factory Yamahas of Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi.
While both riders directly involved in the crash walked away, it was later found that Zarco had in fact fractured the scaphoid in his right wrist, forcing him to undergo surgery on Wednesday in Austria in order to install screws into the bone to aid the healing process.
The relatively late surgery meant he had to miss both Friday practice sessions for the Styrian GP due to 48 hours having had to pass between surgery and the pre-race weekend medical exam.
Zarco underwent the examination on Friday afternoon, where doctors passed him fit to compete in the remainder of the weekend.
MotoGP and the Red Bull Ring worked together during the week to try and come up with a solution in order to try and prevent a similar Turn 3 incident.
The two parties eventually settled on an extended air fence and wall on the infield, just inset from the apex of the bend.
Zarco will have to start from the pit lane should he attempt to compete in Sunday’s Styrian contest having been culpable for the contact between him and Morbidelli that instigated the incident.
The penalty will be rolled over to the next event should he not make the start of the second Red Bull Ring event, which will most likely be the San Marino GP at Misano in three weeks’ time.
