MARINI RULED OUT AS HONDA LOSES ALL RIDERS AT PHILLIP ISLAND

Luca Marini will miss the rest of the Australian MotoGP weekend after being declared unfit to continue following a further medical examination on Saturday morning. The Honda rider managed only two flying laps in Friday’s FP1, finishing 6.048 seconds behind session leader Marc Marquez, before sitting out the afternoon’s Practice session. Marini had been suffering from the illness for several days and had disclosed this on arriving at Phillip Island. Honda’s medical team advised him to stop for the remainder of Friday, with his condition to be reviewed the next morning. MotoGP Chief Medical Officer Dr Angel Charte said Marini had a viral illness and high fever, followed by muscle weakness affecting his upper and lower body. “During the last examination, conducted on Saturday morning, he presented with the same symptoms and was declared unfit,” Charte said. His condition will be assessed again in Malaysia.

His withdrawal leaves Honda HRC without a rider for the rest of the Phillip Island weekend. Team-mate Joan Mir has been sidelined by ongoing health problems since Misano and was not replaced. Takaaki Nakagami was also unavailable after being injured during a wildcard appearance at Motegi, while test rider Aleix Espargaro could not step in after undergoing arm pump surgery.