Supersport: Marcel Brenner – no comeback yet, but he made his presence felt

Review: The third round of the 2026 Euro Moto season took place on 26 June in Most, the Czech Republic. In the second Supersport race of the weekend, Marcel Brenner – who was running in second place – crashed at the end of the fourth lap in a spectacular highside; he was seriously injured, received first aid and was eventually airlifted away by helicopter. The race was subsequently abandoned. After the restart, there was another crash and the red flags were waved. Ultimately, there was no third restart, and the race therefore remained unclassified.

Marcel Brenner suffered a fractured vertebra, a bruised lung and extensive bruising all over his body as a result of his crash. The Swiss rider paid a visit to the Nürburgring to see Euro Moto and his Polish Automarket AF Racing Team. SPEEDWEEK.com asked the Swiss rider about the progress of his recovery.

I still remember everything about the crash.

Marcel Brenner

First of all, we wanted to know what he still remembers about the accident: “I still remember everything about the crash. I suddenly found myself sideways and then I was sent flying high into the air. That was the moment when I thought: ‘Oh, this is going to hurt.’ And it did hurt – something I can still feel today, two months on. It was a very heavy crash and I’ve also received a lot of feedback from the paddock and beyond. When I watched the crash back later, I thought I must have broken all sorts of things. But our fitness really helps a lot in situations like that. That’s why I’d advise every amateur rider to train properly.”

Riding without painkillers

Summing up the injuries diagnosed following his ordeal – which saw him airlifted to a hospital in Prague immediately after the crash and then transferred the next day by the Swiss air rescue service Rega to the Inselspital in Bern – he said: “Well, my T10 vertebra was fractured. It was all unstable, but not so serious that it could lead to paralysis. The vertebra was operated on and surgically fused with four screws between T9 and T11. That was the most serious injury I’ve ever had. The worst I’d experienced before was a hand injury. I had an operation for that and was able to go home the next day.”

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And how is he doing now? “I don’t need to take any more painkillers, but I do still feel it in my back from time to time, for example when I’m lying down. I’m not yet satisfied with my muscle recovery, but it’ll all be fine. As far as the pain is concerned, I’d be ready to ride again,” says the 29-year-old.

‘Would’, because competing in a race this season is out of the question. “I’d love to ride again, but I’m still suffering from whiplash and dizziness. I just don’t want to get back on the bike with that yet. Looking back, the whiplash was the bigger problem than the physical pain. It came from my neck, because my head slammed into my sternum in the blink of an eye.”

Brenner wants to make a comeback

It was clear to him right from the start that he would return to the track. “I’ve come to terms with the crash very well. Of course, I had thoughts about how serious the injury was and whether I’d want to go through that again. But for me, that’s only happened once in 22 years. These things happen; that’s motor racing. You’ve got to carry on, and I really do love the sport. It would hurt more if I stopped doing it.”

He can’t say yet exactly what the future holds for him. All he’ll say is: “I definitely want to carry on and am in talks with my team from this year. I feel very much at home with them, and they’re the first people I’ll be talking to.”