Glass caused Espargaro oil fall, out of qualifying

Tech 3 Yamaha announce that Pol Espargaro will miss Malaysian MotoGP qualifying, small piece of glass caused oil leak that led to accident
Glass caused Espargaro oil fall, out of qualifying

Pol Espargaro will not return to the track on Saturday at Sepang, following his left foot fracture in morning MotoGP practice in Malaysia.

Tech 3 Yamaha have also revealed that a small piece of glass caused the oil leak that led to Espargaro's big accident.


The Spaniard has broken the second metatarsal bone in his left foot after crashing heavily at the end of FP3 at Turn 1, after having a small shard of glass puncture his oil radiator.

Espargaro's decision to remain on track will surely be questioned given that former rival Scott Redding warned the Spaniard about a bike problem shortly before the incident, the Englishman pointing to the rear end of Espargaro's M1.

While Espargaro duly looked down at his bike to assess whether there was any mechanical problem, he apparently saw no smoke and so elected to continue in FP3 as he tried to set a top ten time for automatic entry into Q2.

Coming onto the pit straight Espargaro's bike again puffed smoke before he highsided spectacularly at turn one, due to oil leaking onto the rear wheel. His bike then burst into flames while he was carried away on a stretcher.

Andrea Iannone has also withdrawn from qualifying, due to arm injuries suffered after a clash with Marc Marquez in Friday practice.

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