VR46 Ducati rider Fabio Di Giannantonio has become the third MotoGP rider ruled out of the pre-season test at Sepang after the first day of action.
Di Giannantonio, one of just three riders in the field entrusted with a latest-spec Ducati Desmosedici this season, crashed twice during the day of testing.
But while his crash during the actual eight-hour timed portion of the day was inconsequential, and he went on to finish the day a solid seventh-fastest, he then had another fall while on a practice start outlap.
The crash does not appear to have been caught by the TV cameras covering the test, but an eye witness has suggested to The Race that Di Giannantonio was attempting a wheelie on his way to the grid when he fell.
Di Giannantonio was diagnosed with a left collarbone fracture in the aftermath, and is flying back to Italy to be operated on.
It is a particularly cruel series of events for the Italian, who has only just returned to fitness after a complicated operation to repair a dislocated left shoulder - and who now faces rehab in effectively the same area of his body.
Di Giannantonio joins Raul Fernandez and Jorge Martin on the sidelines.
Like Fernandez and Martin, given that he will undergo a surgical procedure he is a massive doubt to run in the second and final pre-season test at Thailand's Buriram venue in a week's time.
