Source: Supplied.

Hunter Lawrence’s hopes of earning a world title in 2018 have been crushed after suffering a hand injury during timed practice at the weekend’s fourth stop in the MX2 World Championship in Trentino, Italy, forcing him to the sidelines for the remainder of the weekend.

Following an initial evaluation, the Team Honda 114 Motorsport’s rider endeavoured to contest the qualification race during Saturday’s proceedings, however the discomfort proved to be too much, forcing him to retire. It prompted the youthful talent to investigate further, where it was determined he fractured a metacarpal in his hand.

It’s a bitter blow for the Queensland native, who made an impressive start to the season, with the injury now casting doubt on his attendance at the upcoming rounds of the series, including this weekend’s MXGP of Portugal.

“[It’s] hard to swallow this weekend’s results of not being able to race due to a crash in time practice,” said Lawrence in a social media statement. “Got an X-ray done and thought it was just muscle damage as everything looked okay, we tried to ride [the qualifying] race, but after five laps of not being able to hold on and just circulating we pulled in to try and save myself for Sunday’s races.

“I went and got it checked out more and found out I have a broken metacarpal in my right hand. So now [to] focus on recovery to get back to what I love doing as soon as I can.”

Despite not contesting Sunday’s two motos, Lawrence still holds down sixth in the championship standings, 81 points behind current leader and reigning champion Pauls Jonass (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing).