KUALA LUMPUR: Frenchman Loris Baz miraculously escaped serious injury when his rear tyre exploded, hurling him off his bike in a spectacular high-speed crash during MotoGP pre-season testing in Malaysia on Tuesday.
Baz, who celebrated his 23rd birthday on Monday, said that at the time of the incident he was travelling at around 290 kilometres per hour (180 miles per hour) along the Sepang circuit’s main straightaway.
An AFP reporter witnessed the rear tyre on Baz’s Ducati blowing out just before he went down.
His Avintia Racing team said they were investigating the cause of the “scary crash.”
“Now we have to check what happened,” the team said on Twitter.
Baz counted himself lucky afterwards.
“What do you say when you walk away (from) a 290kph crash with a bruised elbow and nothing else? BIG THANKS YOU TO Alpinestars,” he said on Twitter, referring to the manufacturer of his protective gear.
Tyres are among a number of technical issues expected to be in sharp focus in 2016 after Michelin replaced Bridgestone as MotoGP’s official supplier of tyres from this season.
Reigning MotoGP world champion Jorge Lorenzo of Spain set the pace on the first day of testing Monday, just ahead of his Yamaha team-mate Italy’s Valentino Rossi. -- AFP