Gosselies, Belgium – 7 July 2015: Tito Rabat heads into this weekend’s German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring confident he can fight at the front of the race, despite undergoing surgery on a fractured collarbone just three days ago.

The reigning Moto2 World Champion crashed heavily while training at the Almeria circuit on Saturday, sustaining a fractured right clavicle in the accident. Rabat underwent surgery at the Hospital University Quirón Dexeus in Barcelona on Saturday evening, with a titanium plate inserted to stabilise the fracture.

Rabat was discharged from hospital on Monday morning and immediately started rehabilitation training in preparation for this weekend’s race, the last before the four-week summer break.

While the Sachsenring is a physically demanding track, there are few hard braking areas to stress Rabat’s damaged shoulder and he remains confident that the injury will not be a significant factor as he chases his first ever podium finish at the German circuit.

Álex Márquez heads to Germany looking to build on a solid result in Assen, where he equalled his best finish to date with ninth place in the Dutch TT. The 19-year-old Spaniard has made significant steps forward with his Kalex Moto2 machine in recent weeks and is looking forward to racing this weekend at the Sachsenring, where he narrowly missed out on a podium finish in the Moto3 race last year.

Tito Rabat:
“The surgery was only a few days ago but I’m back in training already and the shoulder feels good. It’s difficult to know how it will feel on the bike until I actually try it on Friday, but I think the only issue will be under hard braking and there isn’t so much of that at the Sachsenring. The important thing this weekend will be to manage the sessions and not put too much stress on the injury ahead of the race. Other than that the approach will be the same as every other weekend; to do our best and try to finish as high up the order as possible on Sunday. It would be nice to finish on the podium this weekend, as Sachsenring is now the only circuit on the calendar at which I haven’t achieved this in Moto2, but we will see.”

Álex Márquez
“After two race weekends where we improved both my pace and my rhythm a lot, I’m looking forward to the Sachsenring. It’s not one of my favourite circuits, but we go there in a positive frame of mind and looking to continue the improvements of the last few races. It’s important to get a good result this weekend in Germany, as it means we will go into the summer break with a good feeling. To do that we need to work a little more on qualifying and also my pace at the end of the race, but for this we have some clear ideas, so I’m completely motivated for the weekend ahead.”

Michael Bartholemy: Team Principal
“Tito’s accident was unfortunate, but riders have to train and with that comes some risk. The good news is that the surgery was a success and he’s as motivated as ever for the weekend ahead. Sure, he’ll have some pain on the bike but, with few hard braking areas to contend with at the Sachsenring, it will be manageable for him. Tito might not be completely fit but his chances of a first podium finish at the Sachsenring this weekend shouldn’t be written off, because he’s one tough cookie! We have seen a big improvement from Álex over the last few races and I’m confident that he can fight for a top ten finish once again in Germany. We still need to work on his qualifying pace but, as he showed in both Catalunya and Assen, his race pace is already good.”