Honda down to three MotoGP riders again as stand-in injured
Honda will race with a depleted roster of riders in the Hungarian Grand Prix at Balaton Park, following an injury to Somkiat Chantra's planned stand-in Aleix Espargaro
Honda down to three MotoGP riders again as stand-in injured
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Honda will race with a depleted roster of riders in the Hungarian Grand Prix at Balaton Park, following an injury to Somkiat Chantra's planned stand-in Aleix Espargaro.

Rookie Chantra has now missed three rounds - two before the summer break and one after - with a knee injury and is also skipping Balaton.

Test rider Takaaki Nakagami rode in his relief at Brno, where he himself got injured, and other Honda tester Espargaro was thus named as stand-in for Balaton after Chantra's LCR team fielded just one entry at the Red Bull Ring.

Now LCR is down to one entry again.

"Unfortunately, Aleix suffered a cycling accident a few days ago," the team revealed.

"While it initially seemed minor, he arrived at the track on Thursday morning with severe back pain. Medical examinations have revealed that his L3 vertebra is affected.

"He is now returning to Barcelona to undergo further tests at Hospital Universitari Dexeus."

LCR thanked Espargaro "for his willingness to help" and wished him "a speedy recovery".

Espargaro was due to race against brother Pol this weekend, the latter called up to replace Maverick Vinales at Tech3 KTM.

The announcement that Aleix had withdrawn landed right during Pol's media scrum.

"I saw him when I was entering the paddock, I saw him walking super-stiff," Pol said. "And I knew - because he put it [private] on Instagram that he was 'fully damaged' by a cycling crash - that he's going to struggle this weekend.

"Anyway, he's going to struggle so much that he's not going to race."

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