In about turn from earlier this afternoon, Ducati’s Andrea Iannone may race at the Misano MotoGP despite a fracture of the third vertebra in crash during today’s opening free practice session but it all hinges on a medical examination tomorrow.

Iannone was first declared unfit, with the possibility of racing at Aragon also in jeopardy but he was then declared ‘fit to be reviewed’ once a second scan was carried out at the Bufalini Hospital in Cesena where the rider was taken by helicopter for further checks.

“The scan revealed a fracture to the third vertebra, but fortunately it is in a part that doesn’t affect the spinal cord”, Ducati Corse General Manager Paolo Ciabatti told BSN. “It was an ordinary crash, but Andrea felt immediately a big pain in the back and so we proceeded with further scans. We have sent the medical reports also to Ducati specialist doctors in order to give Iannone an additional opinion.

“Andrea has all our support. The final decision will depend from the Medical Responsible of the circuit, as stated in the Sporting Rules. If he is declared fit to race, it will be the rider who will decide. Only Andrea can understand how much the pain can affect his riding. If Andrea takes part, he will want to be competitive for the qualifying and the race”.

If Iannone is declared fit, he will try, at least one practice session, in order to understand if he can cope with the pain. The rider’s management confirmed this possibility, but the final decision is in the hand of the doctors.

There were several front end crashes at Misano circuit, mainly with soft tyres, as Jorge Lorenzo explained: “I was lucky not to crash as we had to be careful in the beginning”, but Iannone was using the medium front option and he lost the front once he put the tyre on the kerb, so the Michelin tyres are absolved of blame.