Elias hopeful foot injury will not stop him

The Alice Team rider came to a halt on the start-finish straight with what initially looked like an engine failure.

However, it turned out to be a major clutch failure - and in fact the clutch basket had flown off and hit Elias's right foot at high speed.

After attending the medical centre to have doctors look at his foot, Elias has been told that nothing has broken. However, the foot is sore and he will undergo treatment tonight to ensure he can get back on the bike tomorrow.

"I didn't get injured, but it really hurts," explained Elias. "The top part of the foot is now swollen and I will have to get some physiotherapy to reduce the pain as quickly as possible."

Technical director Fabiano Sterlacchini said he was baffled by the incident, as there had been no warning of a possible failure.

"We have to investigate what happened," he said. "They all were new pieces and we have to understand why it broke.

"This piece of the clutch also hit the engine, which luckily is still okay, but has anyway made the bike lose some oil. The strange thing is that all the data received until the last lap was telling us the situation was under control."