Marc Marquez dislocates shoulder

UPDATE: Repsol Honda say Marquez is going to Leoben Hospital to have his shoulder checked. Initially stated he would be going by helicopter, then by ambulance.

MotoGP title leader Marc Marquez dislocated his shoulder in a nasty accident during FP3 in Austria.

The Repsol Honda star had made swift progress up to third behind the factory Ducatis, but then got out of shape under braking for Turn 3 - almost clipping team-mate Dani Pedrosa before begin thrown onto the ground.

Pedrosa also ran wide, and it is not clear if that distracted Marquez. Either way, by steering to the outside he narrowly avoided a repeat of the Iannone-Lorenzo braking collision in Catalunya.

Marquez came very close to hitting the back of Pedrosa under braking at Turn 3 #AustrianGP #MotoGP FP3 pic.twitter.com/uuffAdh7ap-- Crash.net MotoGP (@crash_motogp) August 13, 2016

Marquez was slow to get up and it later emerged that he had briefly dislocated his left shoulder. After returning to the pits he headed for treatment at the Clinica Mobile and it was rumoured he may return at the end of the session.

That wouldn't have been a total surprise - Marquez dislocated his shoulder in morning warm-up at Silverstone in 2013 but only narrowly lost out on victory in the race.

However, ultimately Marquez did not return, having already done enough to claim a top ten place and therefore direct transfer to this afternoon's Qualifying 2 session.

With two races in two weekends, Marquez will be grateful for his 48-point advantage over Jorge Lorenzo and 59-point lead over Valentino Rossi.

By Peter McLaren