(Reuters) - Local rider Kohta Nozane will replace Jonas Folger for Sunday's Japanese MotoGP race at Motegi after the German suffered a mystery energy-sapping illness, the Tech3 Yamaha team said on Thursday. "He has a disease but we don’t know exactly what it is," said team manager Herve Poncharal in a statement. Folger, a MotoGP rookie and only German in the top flight of grand prix motorcycling, said even leaving his hotel room had been impossible. Nozane has never raced in MotoGP, although he competed in Moto2 in 2012 as a wild card in Japan, but is a Yamaha test rider with world endurance experience and knows Motegi well. Australia and Malaysia follow directly on from the race in Japan with Valencia ending the season on Nov. 12.

Source: The Star October 12, 2017 11:15 UTC