Lorenzo undergoes left wrist surgery, targets Malaysia return

Jorge Lorenzo has undergone a successful operation on his left wrist and is aiming to return to MotoGP action for Ducati at next weekend’s Malaysian round.

The Ducati rider was forced out of the Japanese round last weekend due to the pain from his injuries sustained in a huge FP1 in Thailand, which also ruled him out of the Buriram race, and is absent from Phillip Island to receive treatment on his left wrist.

On Wednesday, Lorenzo underwent ‘a successful operation’ back in Spain on his injured ligaments in his left wrist with the target of making a comeback in just over a week at Sepang.

“Jorge Lorenzo, who returned to Europe last Sunday, had a successful operation Wednesday on his left wrist at the hands of Dr. Xavier Mir of the Dexeus Clinica, who carried out an arthroscopy on his injured left ligament,” Ducati’s preview for the Australian round confirmed.

“The Spanish rider has already returned home to Lugano to try and speed up recovery, with the aim of returning to the track at Sepang in ten days’ time.”

Alvaro Bautista has been called up from the Angel Nieto Ducati squad to fill-in for Jorge Lorenzo in Australia after test rider Michele Pirro was confirmed as unavailable, with local rider Mike Jones standing in for Bautista at the Aspar squad.

Lorenzo will aim for a rapid recovery from surgery to be ready for the Malaysian Grand Prix, a strong circuit for Ducati with consecutive wins from the past two years, with the Sepang race acting as the Spaniard’s penultimate event for Ducati ahead of his Honda switch at the end of this season.

The five-time world champion has endured a nightmare final third of this year despite taking three pole positions . After seeing his pole position at Silverstone lost when the race was cancelled, Lorenzo ed out from pole in both the Misano and Aragon races before his heavy Thailand FP1 off effectively took him out of the following three rounds.

Finally at home. I would like to thank Dr.Mir and Dr.Barrera for the great job in yesterday’s arthroscopy of the fissure and damaged ligament of my left wrist. I hope to be recovered to ride in Malaysia and finish the year in the best possible way. Thanks to all for the support! pic.twitter.com/wowRw5fmoo

— Jorge Lorenzo (@lorenzo99) October 24, 2018