Capirossi to fly home tonight, Itoh for Turkey?

Loris Capirossi, who was ruled out of today's Australian GP when he fell heavily at turn one on Friday - sustaining chest injuries, including internal bleeding around his right lung - will return home to Europe tonight.

Since the accident the Ducati Marlboro rider has been recovering in Melbourne's Cabrini hospital but has now been passed fit to fly. He will, however, travel with a chest drain attached to drain the bleeding.

"The doctors decided it is best for Loris to fly home tonight," said Ducati project manager Livio Suppo. "He will fly with Dr Corbascio, from the Clinica Mobile, and should meet Dr Claudio Costa tomorrow afternoon.

"Hopefully the chest drain will be taken off soon because it's causing him some pain. Otherwise he feels good and doesn't have any other injuries. For sure he will miss Turkey, but it's too early to talk about Valencia," he added.

As a result of his injuries, Ducati are currently seeking a replacement for Capirossi at next weekend's inaugural Turkish Grand Prix.

No rider has yet been confirmed alongside Carlos Checa, but former 500cc star Randy Mamola - who currently rides Ducati's two-seater at MotoGPs, alongside his TV and management commitments - was apparently asked by Ducati to consider what would be an immensely popular one-off GP return...

...However, the latest information given to Crash.net is that the seat is now more likley to go to Ducati/Bridgestone Tyre Test Team rider Shinichi Itoh (lower picture).