MotoGP rider Jorge Lorenzo feared his latest injury was 'much worse'

Lorenzo's injury was ultimately diagnosed as a shoulder sprain, and he expects to race without difficulty in this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi.

He is currently 14 points behind championship-leading Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi with four races remaining.

"I was quite worried," Lorenzo admitted. "At first I thought 'that could be much worse...'

"Then I arrived to the hospital and before the x-ray I was worried because they were thinking it could maybe need an operation.

"Luckily after we did an x-ray, there was no need for an operation, so I could breathe.

"I feel a little bit of pain, not so much, but it was not very comfortable when I was moving the shoulder.

"Luckily it's improved a lot during these days. We did everything we could to accelerate this process of recovery.

"Tomorrow I will be better still and by Sunday I will be better than Friday - I will be close to 100 per cent."

Rossi said he does not expect to gain much advantage from Lorenzo's injury.

"We have to wait to see his feeling when he rides the bike tomorrow morning," he said.

"The shoulder is always difficult and can be a big pain, but it can be different in normal life or riding the bike.

"Sometimes you have pain doing some easy things and you go on a motorcycle and have less problems.

"But one time Jorge raced with a broken collarbone with a screw put in about three hours before - he's strong!

"We just have to think about ourselves."

HONDA ADAPTS BIKE FOR MARQUEZ INJURY

Lorenzo and Rossi's Honda rival Marc Marquez also has an injury concern, having broken a finger on his left hand in a crash while mountain biking.

He admitted the injury was a hard one to carry at the Motegi track, which features several areas of heavy braking.

"I feel OK, we will see tomorrow how it is on the bike," said Marquez.

"I am a little bit worried for the braking points, but we'll try a special handlebar."