Rossi reveals he broke finger in Motegi crash
Valentino Rossi has revealed that he suffered a broken finger when he crashed out of last weekend’s Motegi MotoGP race.
The Italian, who started from pole position in Japan, fell out of second place at Turn 10 on the seventh lap, having lost the lead early on to Marquez.
With Rossi's Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo also crashing out later in the race, Marquez secured his third MotoGP title with three races to spare.
In the accident, Rossi broke the little finger of his left hand, but says it isn’t causing him too much discomfort ahead of this weekend’s Phillip Island race.
“The finger, I suffer a little bit because at the end it was broken,” he said. “[It’s] coming better but I [still] feel some pain.
“For riding a motorcycle, it’s not so bad. The problem is it’s a bit ugly!”
Asked if he was angry with himself to lose the title to Marquez in such a fashion, Rossi replied: “I was not angry, but sad to lose an opportunity to make a good race, to try to fight and bring something home after the good work in practice and the pole position.
“When you go [out] like this, it’s a great shame. I don’t feel the mistake, also looking at the data it’s very difficult to understand.
“The good thing is we have another race straight away and we have to try and make a good result.”
With Lorenzo also failing to score at Motegi, the pair are separated by 14 points with three rounds to go in the battle for the runner-up spot in the championship.
“The bigger motivation is try to make points, to arrive at the end in all three races and fight for the podium here, Sepang and Valencia,” concluded Rossi.
Additional reporting by Oriol Puigdemont
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About this article
| Series | MotoGP |
| Event | Japanese GP |
| Location | Twin Ring Motegi |
| Drivers | Valentino Rossi |
| Teams | Yamaha Factory Racing |
| Author | Jamie Klein |
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