Luca Marini has joined Alex Marquez on the sidelines for the full-length Indian MotoGP after being diagnosed with a broken collarbone as a consequence of his clash with team-mate Marco Bezzecchi in the Sprint Race.

The Italian clattered into the rear-end of his fellow VR46 Racing Ducati rider after getting his braking wrong into the tricky first turn right-hander.

Getting on the anchors hard enough to lift the rear of his Ducati GP22 off the ground, Marini couldn’t prevent a collision and would slap the asphalt hard on the way down. Bezzecchi stayed upright but ran off course before mounting a superb comeback ride through the field to fifth.

Taken to the medical centre, it was confirmed that Marini has suffered a fracture to the left collarbone, an injury that will likely also rule him out of next weekend’s Japanese MotoGP too.

It was an incident the FIM Stewards took a dim view of too, Marini slapped with a long lap penalty to be taken in the next event he starts for ‘aggressive contact’ with another rider.

"It is a type of racing accident that can happen if you have two riders fighting at the top positions," said VR46 team manager Pablo Nieto. 

"We are very sorry, also because Luca suffered a fracture of his left collarbone and will have to undergo surgery in Italy in the next few days.

"We wish him the best and look forward to seeing him on the track as soon as possible to continue fighting with the strongest guys at this level."

Marini is the second rider to be forced out of the Indian MotoGP, the first to be held in the Asian country, after Alex Marquez ruled himself out of both the Sprint Race and Sunday’s feature following a crash during qualifying.

The Gresini Ducati rider had just set a time good enough to get him through Q1 and into Q2 when he suffered an awkward high-side that left him with rib fractures. He too will miss next weekend’s Japanese MotoGP.

"I feel sad," Marquez said. "Apart from the pain in my ribs, more I'm sad for the team to miss India and to miss also Japan. But life sometimes is like this.

"I was really fast in FP2 in the morning and also in Q1. I just did a mistake when I went into Turn 5 a little bit faster and I was on the dirty side, I opened the throttle and just had a big highside.

"I will fly home today or tomorrow and try to recover, do everything that I can. Some physio and all that. And then cross my fingers to come back in Indonesia."