Two months after his horrible crash at Jerez, from which he escaped with an open fracture to his left tibia and fibula, a dislocated shoulder and many other ‘minor’ injuries, Jules Cluzel will make his return aboard the MV Agusta Reparto Corse’s F3 machine. The same Jerez circuit will be the venue for the two-day private test starting on Monday.

“My goal was to return to action for the last test of the year at Jerez and I’m glad we’ve made it,” Cluzel told WorldSBK.com at EICMA. “To many this is kind of a miracle because, given the extent of the injuries sustained, a two-month recovery period was way too optimistic.

“It has been a tough time since Jerez. I really wanted to race in front of my French fans at Magny-Cours, especially because I knew many were coming especially to watch me race. Unfortunately, things went different. I decided not to watch the race in Qatar because it was too painful for me. I thought, 'Let’s draw a line under this season and focus on the next one.'”

With the smile on his face, Cluzel went on to say that in such situation all one needs is to deal with it as best as possible:
“It was a new and difficult experience for me, as I had never suffered any injury as severe as this one. This year everything seemed to be going the right way and I had only two crashes in the whole year, testing included. Unfortunately, the second crash was a big one. People kept asking me how I was and how hard it was to deal with this injury… it wasn’t, this is life. I found myself back in the water and starting to swim again. To complain about the situation does not change a thing.”

What is Cluzel’s goal for the upcoming test? Quite an obvious one…
“I hope to be quick [laughs]. I know this isn’t exactly what my manager wants to hear, but I want to be fast...but without taking any risks. I know a crash would be devastating right now and my first aim is to check out the bike before continuing my preparation for next year.”