Repsol Honda will complete the rest of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix event with just a sole factory entrant as Stefan Bradl has been forced to pull out with an arm injury.
Bradl was drafted in to replace injured World Champion Marc Marquez but has struggled to get up to speed aboard the RC213V.
He took a best result of 17th at the Austrian GP.
In a statement released by Honda following first practice for the Emilia Romagna event at Misano, Bradl revealed that he had problems with his right arm that were not allowing him to compete “in a safe and consistent way”.
The German says he underwent a small operation to clean a nerve in his injured arm in an attempt to cure the problem ahead of this weekend, but the procedure was to no avail therefore has decided to skip the Emilia Romagna GP in order to recover sufficiently for the Catalan GP next weekend.
“Unfortunately I’m still having problem with my right arm and I am not able to ride in a safe and consistent way,” read Bradl’s statement.
“I spoke with my doctor and we performed a small operation to clean the nerve before this weekend but when they opened my arm, they saw the situation was more complicated than they first though.
“I came to Misano with the intention of racing because my doctor told me it would be OK to race.
“But in this situation, I do not feel I can ride safely over a race, and together with HRC we have decided to take the rest of the week to recover before Barcelona.”
Bradl’s withdrawal from the Emilia Romagna GP weekend leaves only two Honda pilots taking part at Misano, the remaining factory Honda of Alex Marquez and LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami.
Nakagami’s team-mate Cal Crutchlow remains out of action as he continues to recover from an arm pump operation.
The three-time premier class race winner is targeting a return for the Catalan GP next week, although it is conceivable that neither Crutchlow nor Bradl could be fit to ride at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Marquez is still not fit enough to return as he continues to recuperate from his broken right arm though he returned to training this week.
