Collin Veijer breaks collarbone and is ruled out of Austrian Grand Prix

Collin Veijer will take no further part in this weekend’s Qatar Airways Grand Prix of Austria. The 21-year-old Dutch rider suffered a broken left collarbone in a crash during Friday morning’s first Free Practice session for the Moto2 class at the Red Bull Ring. Veijer will travel to Barcelona on Saturday, where he is expected to undergo surgery on Monday, performed by Dr. Xavier Mir.

Collin Veijer made a strong start to the Austrian Grand Prix weekend on Friday morning. The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider was inside the top ten from the opening laps of the first Free Practice session and continued to improve his lap time throughout the session. However, with three minutes remaining, he suffered a heavy crash on the exit of Turn 6.

Following examinations at the Medical Centre, Veijer was diagnosed with a fracture of his left collarbone and was subsequently declared unfit to take part in the remainder of the Grand Prix weekend. He finished the first Free Practice session in twelfth position with a best lap time of 1’33.834.

Collin Veijer: “We were coming off two strong weekends at Aragón and Misano, so what happened today is very unfortunate. To be honest, it was not a big mistake, but the impact was hard. We were feeling good this morning and improving on every lap, so it’s a shame that we won’t be able to take part in the rest of this Grand Prix. It could have been another good weekend for us.
Fortunately, it seems that the fracture is clean. We will therefore have the surgery as soon as possible and then begin the recovery process. I would like to be back for Japan, but we will have to see how the recovery progresses. For now, I need to focus on myself and try to recover one hundred percent.”

At this stage, no definitive date has been set for Veijer’s return to Moto2 competition.