Pedrosa to fly home after hand injury

The Spaniard lost control of his Repsol Honda RC212V at Turn 11 in the final hour of the first day of 2008 testing in Malaysia. Although he was able to walk away from the bike, which subsequently exploded in flames, he had hurt his hand in the crash.

After being taken to a nearby hospital in Putrajaya for x-ray checks, it was found that he had suffered a hairline fracture of his second metacarpal bone in his right hand - which was enough to force him out of testing for the rest of this week.

Although he was able to return to the Sepang track late in the evening, it was decided that the 2007 MotoGP runner-up should return home to Spain to undergo medical treatment in Barcelona.

Speaking about his accident, Pedrosa said: "I wasn't pushing so hard at the time of the crash. I lost the front going into Turn 11. It was quite a big crash - the bike caught fire and I hurt my right hand."

A verdict on when Pedrosa will be able to return to action is unlikely to be forthcoming until he has seen doctors in Spain, but he is almost certain to miss the next MotoGP text which takes place in Phillip Island next week.