Source: Supplied.

Suzuki World MXGP rider Arminas Jasikonis has been forced to miss Qatar’s opening round of the 2017 MXGP World Championship due to visa issues.

After such a successful pre-season, Jasikonis was unable to enter Qatar in time for round one, however it’s expected he will be back in time for Indonesia next weekend.

“AJ is back on a plane to Europe because he didn’t have the right visa,” Stefan Everts explained. “It’s a very bad break for him, after having a good pre-season and we were really looking forward to having him on the start line on the new RM-Z450WS. It is a big disappointment, especially for himself, but also for the whole team and Suzuki, to not see him here after all the work we’ve put in.

“This is how it is and we have to accept it, we should have taken care better on the visa issue and we will learn from this. I want to apologise to all our sponsors, partners and fans, and especially to Suzuki that he won’t be on the start line.”

Kevin Strijbos will be the sole MXGP rider at the event, alongside Suzuki World MX2 trio Aussie Hunter Lawrence, Jeremy Seewer and Bas Vaessen.