Rossi breaks hand, unlikely to race

With nine minutes gone into the session, Rossi's Yamaha was seen barrel-rolling on the back straight with the Italian rider possibly being caught under the bike.

While the M1 bike got completely destroyed, Rossi managed to get into the ambulance on his feet, but was holding his right hand.

"He certainly has a fracture in the metacarpuses of his hand," MotoGP medic Dr Claudio Costa told Italia1 TV channel. "I think it's something he will be quick to recover from and get back to racing.

"In any case I will be more precise once we have done all the X-rays and the checks. It is something that must be checked thoroughly, because after all it's his right hand."

Team boss Davide Brivio said it is unlikely Rossi will be able to take part in the race tomorrow.

"It looks like there is a fracture in his hand," Brivio told Italia1. "It's a fall at high speed and he hit his backside a bit as well. Now they are doing more checks but the hand fracture seems certain.

"He is quite in pain and they are doing the checks, so we will see, but it seems unlikely this weekend can go on. Obviously it will also depends by the way he feels and his will, but this is not so important for us at this point."

Rossi is in second place in the championship, 24 points ahead of rival Dani Pedrosa on Repsol Honda. A victory by the Spaniard in tomorrow's season finale, with Rossi taking no points, would make the Italian fall to third place in this season's standings.