Ducati’s injury woes continue with Pirro torpedoed in CIV title clash

After a fall in race one, reigning champion Pirro began the title showdown nine points behind rival Lorenzo Zanetti.

“I apologise to the team,” Pirro said after his race one mistake. “Now it's very hard because we are no longer masters of our destiny. Tomorrow, we race to win, as always. And let's see."

Pirro was duly leading in the early stages of race two when he was dramatically torpedoed from behind by Zanetti into the final chicane (see video):

Despite injuring his leg, and with heavy damage to his visor and bike, Pirro managed to remount and finish eleventh, but it wasn’t enough to bridge the points gap and defend his crown.

To make matters worse, the Italian was then diagnosed with a fracture to his left leg, which will require surgery and impact his MotoGP test and replacement duties.

Pirro has been replacing Enea Bastianini at the factory Ducati MotoGP team for the past two rounds, in India and Japan

It is not yet known if Bastianini, who fractured his hand and ankle in Catalunya last month, will try to return for Indonesia this weekend.

But even if he does, an injury question mark now also hangs over fellow Ducati MotoGP racers Alex Marquez (Gresini), Luca Marini (VR46) and Marco Bezzecchi (VR46).

Marquez fractured his ribs in India, where Marini broke his collarbone at the start of the Sprint, also ruling them both out of Japan.

Bezzecchi then broke his collarbone in a training accident over this weekend and, like Marini, has undergone surgery.

The MotoGP rules state, ‘Teams must make every reasonable effort to provide a qualified substitute rider to fulfil their entry obligations within 10 days of withdrawal’.

That means Bezzecchi would not need to be replaced by VR46 if he is unfit for Indonesia, but a substitute would be needed if Alex Marquez and Marini are still declared unfit to return.