Cal Crutchlow loses finger tip in Qatar crash

Cal Crutchlow's final night of pre-season testing before his MotoGP race debut proved to be a painful one when the Englishman lost the tip of his left little-finger.

Crutchlow's hand became trapped under the handlebar of his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 following a heavy crash at Turn 10 shortly before 9pm, causing the finger damage.

Fortunately Crutchlow, who finished the final night in 15th position with just 28 laps, won't need surgery and should be able to take part in opening practice for the Qatar Grand Prix, at the same Losail circuit, as planned on Thursday evening.

"The test certainly didn't end how I wanted and it is a real shame because we had made some changes to the balance of the bike that really helped my confidence with the front-end tonight. But I made a silly little mistake at Turn 10," began Crutchlow.

"I lost the rear and closed the throttle but then lost the front and I couldn't get my left hand out from underneath the handlebar. I've basically taken the tip off my left little finger and it is really sore now. I don't need surgery but it is obviously going to be uncomfortable this weekend for the race now.

"It is a shame because I was only 0.5s away from the top ten last night. I adapted to riding under the floodlights really quickly once I realised the shadows weren't somebody trying to overtake me! I was confident of taking another step tonight and I'm sure I could have done without the crash.

"It cost me nearly three hours of track time, which I can't really afford to lose at this stage, but I'm still looking forward to my MotoGP debut. It will be an honour to line-up against this field on Sunday night and as always I'll be giving it my best."

Team-mate Colin Edwards finished the test in eighth place.