Gino Rea breaks hand after battling inside top 20 at Silverstone
Gino Rea had a weekend of ups and downs in his home Grand Prix at Silverstone. Rea had a strong showing throughout the whole weekend, slotting inside the top 16 throughout Friday’s free practices. However after a few issues during qualifying, Gino ended up 20th on the grid for Sunday’s race. The Londoner got an average start after being pushed wide at turn one but came on strong during the race and was able to catch and battle with the permanent Moto2 Championship riders. Unfortunately whilst battling with fellow Brit Danny Kent and Randy Krummenacher Gino crashed with a lap and a half to go, breaking the 4th metacarpal in his right hand. Rea has chosen not to operate and has already started recovery treatment in preparation for his next Moto2 wildcard. The Gino Rea Montaze Broz race team will be back in action in just 10 days time at the San Marino Grand Prix.
Gino adds: “We had a really positive race until the crash with just a lap and half to go. We changed the bike settings before the race so it took me some laps to get used to it and I didn’t get a great start. But then I came on quite strong. I caught the group with Marcel Schrotter and Elias and felt like I could beat them but was struggling on the back straight. Unfortunately the bike snapped sideways unexpectedly and chucked me off coming out of Chapel corner. I've broke the 4th metacarpal in my right hand but I’ve cut my cast off already to start treatment on it. I hope to recover fast and be back for Misano in 9 days time. This is the first bone I’ve broke since I started road racing!
“It was nice to catch and battle with riders of top teams so I'm happy with our progress. My fastest lap of the weekend was in the race and we also had some other small issues with the bike that slowed me a little too. If I hadn’t have crashed I would have been around 4 seconds from scoring points (over full race distance) so I’m pleased with that.”
“I’d like to say a huge thank you to my team for their hard work, my personal sponsors including PSi leathers and to all the fans for their support over the weekend. Being at a home Grand Prix is an amazing feeling and it’s nice to spend time with the home fans”
The next MotoGP race will take place on 15th-18th Sept at San Marino, Italy.