LCR Honda replacement racer Taka Nakagami will not take part in Sunday's Czech Grand Prix after tearing a ligament in his right knee during Saturday's MotoGP sprint race at Brno.
That occurred when Augusto Fernandez crashed into him - and ironically has ruled Nakagami out of replacing Somkiat Chantra, who is also recovering from surgery to repair a right knee ligament injury.
Nakagami was drafted in to race for his former team in place of Chantra, who crashed while training. Chantra underwent successful surgery 11 days ago to repair damage to the lateral collateral ligament in his right knee.
Nakagami had a quiet start to the weekend at Brno in wet conditions before qualifying 20th for the races, two places ahead of Fernandez, making a wildcard appearance.
However, the Yamaha test rider then crashed out in the opening laps of the race as he tried to take avoiding action from the pack in front and, despite his best efforts, wiped out Nakagami as well, for which Fernandez has been issued a long lap penalty in Sunday’s main race.
"Because of the group," he said, explaining the reason for his crash, "they braked a bit earlier than I was expecting, and I got sucked by the slipstream.
"I knew I was going to hit him, and I tried to put the bike on the ground before the impact, tried to be smooth on the impact. But, as I said, I hope he's OK."
While it was originally believed that, like Fernandez, Nakagami had escaped the incident unscathed, that turned out not to be the case - so Nakagami will now leave Brno with a very similar injury to the rider he was standing in for.
"Initially, Nakagami appeared to be in stable condition, with no major complications," explained the LCR team in a press statement.
"However, after reporting some pain in his right leg, he was taken to the medical centre for evaluation. What was first believed to be a minor contusion was later diagnosed as a posterior cruciate ligament tear in his right knee.
"An MRI scan will be performed to confirm the extent of the injury. In the coming days, the medical team will determine the next steps in terms of treatment and recovery."
Nakagami said he initially felt "quite OK" and was not in pain, but that "after half an hour I felt a really strange feeling".
"I went to the medical centre and they checked the mobility and found that I had the ligament injury," he added.
"Unfortunately unfit for tomorrow's race, and I decided to go back to Japan as soon as possible to check with a doctor and with an MRI.
"Hopefully not a big injury, but at the moment the doctor says I need to go back to Japan and check deeply."
