Image: Supplied.

Spaniard Alex Rins has withdrawn from the 2023 Australian MotoGP at Phillip Island, the LCR Honda Castrol rider struggling with pain in his right leg that he injured earlier in the season.

Rins crashed during the sprint race at Mugello in June, badly breaking his right leg which subsequently saw him ruled out until the Japanese GP.

The number 42 was unable to complete the weekend at Motegi, but successfully made it through the previous round at Mandalika to finish P9 in the Indonesian GP.

Despite a fall yesterday at Phillip Island, Rins doesn’t believe that incident has any bearing or impact on the pain in his recovering leg, and is unsure why the discomfort is so high in Australia.

“So disappointing,” said Rins. “In the end, the pain doesn’t improve so this morning with the doctor at the track we made some exploration with the leg, and we decided to go and get a CT scan at Melbourne today to see if everything is under control and evaluate which part, which moment is causing the pain.

“Well we don’t know exactly from where comes the pain, we will get a CT scan and will check the fibula and tibia. After the crash I am completely fine, I could extend my leg and put it in the air.”

Rins finished practice yesterday at Phillip Island 12th fastest as the leading Honda rider, ultimately 0.701s from Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Brad Binder’s benchmark.