Moto2: Dixon breaks finger, 'won't be a problem' for Qatar

Jake Dixon is confident he will be back on track for the final Moto2 pre-season test in Qatar, despite suffering a broken finger at this week's Jerez test.

The new Petronas rider, 17th quickest on day one (+1.283s), was injured during the second session of day two, prompting an immediate return to the UK for medical checks.

"The doctor said I’ve broken the top of my finger on the tip, and also I’ve taken a piece out of the side of it," Dixon explained. "He said it won’t be a problem for the Qatar test and race though, which is good news.

"I have another check-up on Monday to re-dress it and he’s going to make a cap for it to fit over the top inside the glove so it protects it when I ride, but overall he said that it’ll be fine so I look forward to continuing our work in Qatar."

Despite missing the final day, Dixon had been able to complete 93 laps of the Spanish Grand Prix circuit as he continues to adapt to the Kalex chassis, having spent his rookie grand prix season on a KTM frame at Aspar.

"It was a good start to the test and we got through some things, but the session before I had the crash we struggled a bit," Dixon said. "We found some positives with edge grip but then we tried something with the front fork and it wasn’t as good.

"For the second session we made a modification to the fork to see if we could make it better, and it generally felt like the bike was performing better but with the crash it’s difficult to know and understand fully.

"We’ve improved the rear grip but we still need to improve the front and the natural turn-in, so that’s what we keep working on into the test in Qatar."

Team-mate Xavi Vierge finished the test sixth fastest and 0.450s from Thomas Luthi.

"I am really happy with these three days of testing and we continued the progress from last week," Vierge said. "We tried new things on the bike which I like and also we tried a new front tyre that I liked.

"The important thing is that compared to the private test last week we have improved around 0.5seconds on the race pace and also one second on the fastest lap so I am really, really happy with this."

The final Moto2 pre-season test takes place from 29 February – 1 March, followed by the first race of the year at the same venue on March 8.

Dixon's countryman Sam Lowes (Marc VDS) missed all of the Jerez test due to a recent shoulder injury and is facing a race against time to be fit for round one.